Tao Te Ching 52

To find the origin, trace back to the manifestations. When you recognize the children and find the mother, you will be free of sorrow.

If you close your mind in judgments and traffic with desires, your heart will be troubled. If you keep your mind from judging and aren’t led by the senses, your heart will find peace.
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Finding peace – being free from sorrow and trouble – how does that sound? To me, it sounds like … well … nirvana. The Tao Te Ching joins the chorus of other wisdom philosophies to show us the way.

If we trace back from our sorrows and troubles we will find that their mother is our judgments, desires and sensory response to the world around us. The mind is the womb of suffering. Judgments close the mind; desires choke the mind; the senses lead us to a troubled and often chaotic mind. When we recognize these unruly children we will find their source, the place in which our sorrow is conceived and from which it is born.

Instead of posting the Ten Commandments in churches, schools and homes around the country, why not post this shortest of commandments – “Judge not.” Those two words are much harder to follow than most if not all of the Ten Commandments. I haven’t had the urge to kill or steal in a long time. I’m rarely drawn to worshipping an idol. Envy happens from time to time, but not nearly as often as in years gone by. But – I had the urge to judge multiple times while reading the morning newspaper just a few minutes ago.

Trafficking in desires is akin to trafficking in drugs. Each alters our perception. Each is an escape from life as it is at the moment; or life as we perceive it to be at the moment – life as we judge it to be. When we decide to stop judging life – the people, places and things around us – then we find peace in our heart. We will also experience a vastly quieter mind.

Peace and quiet sounds good to me.