The Tao Te Ching

[soma]

Sorry for posting late on Chapter 31, but I related it to the Mahabharata.

 

Weapons are the tools of violence;

all decent men detest them.

 

Weapons are the tools of fear;

a decent man will avoid them

except in the direst necessity

and, if compelled, will use them

only with the utmost restraint.

Peace is his highest value.

If the peace has been shattered,

how can he be content?

His enemies are not demons,

but human beings like himself.

He doesn't wish them personal harm.

Nor does he rejoice in victory.

How could he rejoice in victory

and delight in the slaughter of men?

 

He enters a battle gravely,

with sorrow and with great compassion,

as if he were attending a funeral.

 

In the Mahabharata Arjuna throws down his weapons and tells Krishna he won’t fight a battle he is expected to fight, think of a modern day soldier. Krishna explains the cycle of life and death and the opportunity in this particular cycle to work off karma, past actions accumulated that needed to be resolved. The key was to compete the action selflessly achieving a dissolution to the blockages that restrict access to the heart and soul. At the end of the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna that he must fulfill his dharma (individual path to truth) Arjuna understands and proceeds into battle even though both sides contain: grandfathers, teachers, brothers, uncles, grandsons, in-laws and friends.

 

The Bhagavad Gita teaches how to live in the world, do our duty and remain spiritual and devoted to God. The keys are to know the spiritual self, stabilize the mind, overcome desires, detach from ego with surrender to God, and awareness of the God in everything so as not to avoid doing an obligatory duty.

[soma]

Chapter 32

 

The Tao can't be perceived.

Smaller than an electron,

it contains uncountable galaxies.

 

We have instruments to help us, but we still are limited from perceiving something that is too big or small. Some have experiences that are beyond our limited senses and they show signs of peace, happiness and good will to others as an effect, but that is an experience, not a perception.

 

When you have names and forms,

know that they are provisional.

When you have institutions,

know where their functions should end.

Knowing when to stop,

you can avoid any danger.

 

We evolve spiritually by dwelling in bodies of dense matter and by working with the temporary material found in the world. We remove barriers in our mind and the temporary is thrown aside to show the permanent characteristic of the infinite. The finite is in the infinite. Institutions proclaim the truth, but they are temporary and the proclamations are temporary for a certain culture and time. The Reality is permanent, but the explanations are temporary. Some explanations must be reapplied to relate to the changing, evolving mentality. Thoughts must evolve if we are to evolve so holding on to the past explanations can be dangerous.

 

All things end in the Tao

as rivers flow into the sea.

 

All explanations of truth will lead to Truth by removing the veil that hides it.

[rivanna]

This seems like good insight on verse 32, commentary by Eric Gross --

 

When we release our narrative we can see, directly, that the movement of the universe is utterly without our control. The very person we take ourselves to be is another object that moves and changes through the ever-flowing current of the Tao.

 

If kings and lords could possess it,

All beings would become their guests.

 

But, of course, kings and lords cannot possess it.

 

Heaven and earth together

Would drip sweet dew

Equally on all people

Without regulation.

 

Were rulers able to align themselves utterly with the Tao, then a perfect world would ensue. It would be a great awakening to the organic truth, a world in perfect alignment and harmony and balance.

 

Begin to make order, and names arise.

Names lead to more names -

And to knowing when to stop.

 

We know when to stop when we see that our names, our narrative has departed from the actual movement and validity of the now-- we see how we reject what is real in favor of human constructed beliefs. When we seek to improve the world and ourselves, we migrate away from the Tao.

 

Taos presence in the world

Is like valley streams

Flowing into rivers and seas.

 

This means that when you feel defeated by life and terrible about yourself, this narrative is false. That projected self and life are truly a lie. It is a universe of names and to the extent that this story has hardened, you have departed from the Tao.

The Tao invites us into the mysterious full-emptiness of this moment--an intensely quiet and pleasurable joining. Let this be your permanent anchor. It is the ever-present portal.

[JosephM]

If powerful men and women

could remain centered in the Tao,

all things would be in harmony.

The world would become a paradise.

All people would be at peace,

and the law would be written in their hearts.

 

 

To me, one that is centered has a powerful influence on all things that happen around him/her in the world. Those in powerful positions especially have a large influence. This influence is to me, invisible, yet the effects can be seen by all.

 

Joseph

[JosephM]

Chapter 33 of Tao now open for discussion/dialog review...

 

Knowing others is intelligence;

knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength;

mastering yourself is true power.

 

If you realize that you have enough,

you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center

and embrace death with your whole heart,

you will endure forever.

[soma]

It seems many people don’t know where they are going or what their purpose is in this life. Therefore, knowing one’s direction and destination would be wisdom and that focus could be looked upon as power.

 

Knowing others is intelligence;

knowing yourself is true wisdom.

Mastering others is strength;

mastering yourself is true power.

 

We become so busy with everyday problems, we don’t take time to consider the hereafter. I feel the Tao is saying in a subtle way for the consciousness to say goodbye to the physical realm, die to the world and embrace the center, soul, or spiritual essence.

 

If you realize that you have enough,

you are truly rich.

If you stay in the center

and embrace death with your whole heart,

you will endure forever.

 

We may not have a car or a house, but in the Spiritual World we are rich, we have enough. It is not death that separates us. It is our minds that erect barriers with time and other preoccupations. The Tao seems to say “Walk without fear, in the shadow of death..”

 

 

If powerful men and women

could remain centered in the Tao,

all things would be in harmony.

The world would become a paradise.

All people would be at peace,

and the law would be written in their hearts

 

It seems powerful men and women need a higher cause, they have glamor, but seem not to have the time or gumption to be alone with the Self. They seem to be afraid to live under a bridge or to stand firm in the harshest weather. This might be what they need to wake up to who they really are and what their assignment is on planet earth. I say this because in the Tao they can find harmony and peace living in an old bus during the roughest time. The soul, the Self, the Tao gives us comfort and leads us to peace in this world and beyond.

[tariki]

Glad to know that some think there is a prospect of finding peace within an "old bus"......

 

Anyway, just dipped back to another thread....

 

Eriugena, man cannot define himself or God, for what defines is greater than what is defined, and encompasses it.

 

.....which made me think of....

 

Huang Po Let me remind you that the perceived cannot perceive.

 

All of which tends to turn my brain to scrambled egg.

[JosephM]

Glad to know that some think there is a prospect of finding peace within an "old bus"......

 

Anyway, just dipped back to another thread....

 

Eriugena, man cannot define himself or God, for what defines is greater than what is defined, and encompasses it.

 

.....which made me think of....

 

Huang Po Let me remind you that the perceived cannot perceive.

 

All of which tends to turn my brain to scrambled egg.

 

Tariki,

Perhaps you read and think too much.

That is sure to scramble the mind...... Yet when it is scrambled... perhaps it will be done.

 

Love Joseph

 

PS. Soma, I like your take on the verses as they relate to Christianity heavily.

[JosephM]

Chapter 34 now open for any discussion .....

 

The great Tao flows everywhere.

All things are born from it,

yet it doesn't create them.

It pours itself into its work,

yet it makes no claim.

It nourishes infinite worlds,

yet it doesn't hold on to them.

Since it is merged with all things

and hidden in their hearts,

it can be called humble.

Since all things vanish into it

and it alone endures,

it can be called great.

It isn't aware of its greatness;

thus it is truly great.

[soma]

Beware this might bore you to death. I apologize if it does.

 

The great Tao flows everywhere.

All things are born from it,

yet it doesn't create them.

 

I feel Genesis is an example of this Tao principle, which is the emergence of being from non-being. I know it says that in the beginning God created heaven and earth, but if you bear with me I will give a different interpretation. Genesis 2 “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.” I feel this great primordial ocean is a great ocean of pure consciousness. The ocean represents everything as an expression of oneness in the pictorial language of nature. Imagine all living things of the universe emerging out of an ocean of pure consciousness, being maintained in this ocean and finally dissolving into it in the end. I feel this abstract image is God the Father. He does not act, but lets the Holy Ghost act on this great body, the Father. Genesis 3 “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. The Trinity, which I am alluding is only to show the duality in unity. Imagine this ocean of pure consciousness with some parts frozen. The liquid part represents pure consciousness, which is not manifested materially and the icebergs represent pure consciousness as it is manifested in the universe thus we have creation. The ocean and the icebergs are both made of water so they both contain pure consciousness. We are able to live because this pure consciousness lives within us, we are able to move because a universal energy flows through us, and we are also able to think because there is an infinite consciousness thinking through us. This water or pure consciousness is an infinite ocean, but in it is the finite water or ice; thus, we have the word infinite, (in-the-finite).

 

In the medium of the ocean of pure consciousness, the Holy Trinity is in equilibrium. The Trinity is a Christian term used to express the three basic forces in nature. This Holy Trinity contains the force that freezes the water so that it may manifest itself in the form of icebergs so pure consciousness may materialize. The Holy Trinity is; the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost and is the Christian symbol for God from which the universe emanates, has its growth, realizes pure consciousness and merges in the end. When the Holy Trinity is in equilibrium it transcends the limitations of time; past, present and future; the genders; masculine, feminine and neuter; and the mind; conscious, subconscious and unconscious. When the equilibrium is disturbed, each principle of the Holy Trinity has the opportunity to express itself. This is the emergence of being from non-being or what we refer to as creation. The primordial waters are a theoretical expression showing the creative spirit of God bringing order out of what seems to be chaos. In creation there is still oneness, but the awareness of this oneness in all things becomes lost in the individual awareness of the parts.

 

It pours itself into its work,

yet it makes no claim.

It nourishes infinite worlds,

yet it doesn't hold on to them.

Since it is merged with all things

and hidden in their hearts,

it can be called humble.

 

God, the Father is used in the pervasive sense that is the pure consciousness that is all pervading and as Christians, we say God is all knowing because he is all pervading. The Witnessing Consciousness, God the Father is everywhere, He lies quiescent in every entity; therefore, He is all seeing and all pervading. In our model God the Father is the ocean of pure consciousness and in this ocean of pure consciousness, God the Father allows the Holy Spirit, or the Holy Ghost, as you may call it, to operate. God the Father is the primary cause of creation; the Holy Ghost is the secondary cause. This is because the Father allows the Holy Spirit to give qualities to the all-pervading consciousness. The Holy Spirit is not all pervading so only the Father can be the material cause. The Holy Ghost is the operative principle or the force that freezes the water. It is allowed to operate and is sheltered in the Father so the Holy Ghost can only work as much as the Father allows it to. In the science of creation only the Father is the instrumental cause. He said, "Let there be light and there was light."

 

Since all things vanish into it

and it alone endures,

it can be called great.

It isn't aware of its greatness;

thus it is truly great.

 

The Holy Trinity represents God from which nature comes, maintains it's growth, and into which it dies and merges in the end; thus, this triangle is the strongest form in nature. The Father is all encompassing and is both in the world and beyond it so everything is within His Body and nothing is outside of Him. As all ice comes from water (pure consciousness) so also all forms of this creation come from the Father or pure consciousness.

The Holy Ghost is also within the body of the Father and can act only as far as the Father permits. It is the energy or force that causes the activity and change within the body of the Father. The Holy Ghost does not affect the Father because it is within the Father’s body so He is still unchanged. The Father only allows the activity to happen and does no activity Himself because He is completely at peace. He only permits the Holy Ghost to act or not.

The Holy Ghost has the power to super-impose a force over some of the pure consciousness, but it doesn't have the power to change it. This force is what hides from the individual consciousness that which connects it to the Whole or the Father. This super-imposition of the particular over the universal is the birth of the individual soul. The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost are a triad. If you take a cup of water from the ocean, the water in the cup is the same as the water in the ocean. There is no difference. The ocean is the Father, the Holy Ghost creates the cup and the water in the cup is the Son.

 

In a composition we can say that the Father is the subject matter, the Holy Ghost is the action and the Son is the intent. The masterpiece is the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost. This is the Holy Trinity, and upon deep inquiry, we see The Holy Trinity trying to make sense of non-duality. This is a logical problem because the mind in time and space only knows duality, but when we say God is everything, we are saying God is one. The all-pervading consciousness is everywhere and is without duality, but it is not without relations.

[JosephM]

Wow!, Soma,

 

That is something to chew on. I'll have to re-read it a few times.

 

Joseph

[soma]

I have been chewing on this a long time and am still trying to digest it all. My mind needs these kinds of answers to quiet it so I can enjoy what is between the words. Thanks

[JosephM]

Chapter 35 now open for discussion/ dialog ....

 

She who is centered in the Tao

can go where she wishes, without danger.

She perceives the universal harmony,

even amid great pain,

because she has found peace in her heart.

 

Music or the smell of good cooking

may make people stop and enjoy.

But words that point to the Tao

seem monotonous and without flavor.

When you look for it, there is nothing to see.

When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.

When you use it, it is inexhaustible.

 

 

 

I think this chapter says much as well as can be said. There is a universal harmony that i have perceived where there is danger to those only who do not see the harmony. It is a place of peace whether you are being stoned or in the lion's den in Christianity or another religion. It is without religion. To me, there is silence in God/the Tao and in that silent Love, is peace and no room for fear.

 

Joseph

[soma]

Joseph I agree with you whole-heartedly.

 

She who is centered in the Tao

can go where she wishes, without danger.

She perceives the universal harmony,

even amid great pain,

because she has found peace in her heart.

 

I feel those who are centered in the soul, are centered in the Tao, and are centered in God

The soul’s intimacy with God is so secure nothing can threaten it

With all its powers and awareness the soul understands and enjoys God in unity and totality even in pain because the delight of the Spirit is in the soul, where neither the devil nor the physical world through the senses can penetrate

 

Music or the smell of good cooking

may make people stop and enjoy.

But words that point to the Tao

seem monotonous and without flavor.

When you look for it, there is nothing to see.

When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.

When you use it, it is inexhaustible.

 

The soul is pure like a crystal that is clear

The five senses can perceive good cooking, but the mind will see nothing in the crystal

Words appealing to the mind can’t describe what is beyond it

The tenderness of the soul shows the secret indwelling of God, love, and the Tao

It is the Spirit that appears to be the light in the crystal,

That enlightens and enlarges the mind to accept the Tao and God in love and peace

[rivanna]

Nice interpretations. I’m still a great admirer of the Tao but feel like my responses were more or less repeating myself.

 

Mitchell’s note on without flavor-- a Zen Master’s comment goes like this: “The tongue has no bone. In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.” I didn’t quite get that, but liked another translation of the ending --

 

“when the music and food are all ended,

the taste of the Tao still remains.”

[soma]

rivanna thank you for those lines. They are going around and around in my mind like parts of a good song.

 

“The tongue has no bone. In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing.” I don't know why, but I really like this.

[JosephM]

The complete quote is ....

 

"The Great Way has no gate. Clear water has no taste. The tongue has no bone. In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing." -- Seung Sahn.

 

In my experience, It is not something you think about, see with your eyes, or hear with your ears. There is nothing for the senses. There is no gate to see with your eyes. It is a gate-less gate always there and open. Pure water is wet but has no minerals or taste to perceive. The tongue indeed has no bone and as that is true so also in complete stillness, without thought there is a dance going on 'as if' a stone girl is dancing which of course to the mind is not possible.

 

Yet those are only words but in symbolism possibly the "Dance of Shiva" from Hinduism is the "clearest image of the activity of God which any art or religion can boast of…A more fluid and energetic representation of a moving figure than the dancing figure of Shiva can scarcely be found anywhere In a marvelously unified and dynamic composition expressing the rhythm and harmony of life," Though it is characterized as a male, its symbolism contains "male-female vital principle".

 

Just a few words on the subject as it also was like a song to my mind as Soma's. Thanks for bringing up the quote Karen.

 

Joseph

[tariki]

Lazy as I am, just another quote to offer, Merton again. A little more prosaic than dancing girls of stone, yet still able to offer something. In some ways it seems to tie in with the last verse and the comments so far.......

 

Faith gives us life in Christ, according to St Paul's word: "I live, now not I, but Christ lives in me" (Galatians 2:20). To accept this is impossible unless one has profound hope in the incomprehensible fruitfulness that emerges from this dissolution of our ego in the ground of our being. Such hope is not the product of human reason; it is a secret gift of grace. It sustains us with divine and hidden aid. To accept our dissolution would be inhuman if we did not at the same time accept the wholeness and completeness of everything in God. We accept our emptying because we realize that our very emptiness is fulfillment and plenitude. In our emptiness the One Word is clearly spoken.

[soma]

Tariki, Your quote brought to my mind that Christian churches put God in peoples’ hearts, while Christian enlightenment puts Christian hearts in God. We are so lucky because the oil of enlightenment gives a wide angle of vision so one is able to see the gateless gate, open and keyless. Christ enlarging our pupils with love, our minds with understanding and our spirituality with new wisdom, illuminates the lantern with love.

 

We have two eyes because with only one eye there is no awareness of the third dimension. A gateless gate, a new concept reminds me of a place I never left except in my mind so on my journey into eternity, a journey without distance, I see myself stopping at the gate and laying in full prostration. “The tongue has no bone,” it cannot describe this distant land, but only hint at different levels of consciousness. On the eve of leaving through the gate one can see the dawn of Truth. Constellations move, hearts change and “In complete stillness, a stone girl is dancing."

 

A time comes when speaking is over and realization begins. A stone statue is hard, but its energy is acting or dancing in a tiny area. We over emphasize our worldly experience. We can’t put our hand through wood because it is moving too fast. Atoms dancing, faith flickering, the Spirit is not the way we want it to be. The Spirit has nothing to do with the gate of religion.

[JosephM]

Chapter 36 now open for dialog or discussion...................

 

If you want to shrink something,

you must first allow it to expand.

If you want to get rid of something,

you must first allow it to flourish.

If you want to take something,

you must first allow it to be given.

This is called the subtle perception

of the way things are.

 

The soft overcomes the hard.

The slow overcomes the fast.

Let your workings remain a mystery.

Just show people the results.

 

 

For some reason the first part brought to mind the parable of the wheat and tares in a new light. Perhaps someone else can relate it

 

Joseph

[rivanna]

Mitchell’s note on chapter 36 --

 

If you want to shrink something -- for example, defects in your character: when suppressed or ignored, they continue; but when allowed to be present in your awareness, they eventually wither away. Or, as Blake said from a slightly different perspective, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom.”

 

--------

I agree with him except for the Blake line, which to me is on a different wavelength from the spirit of the Tao.

 

This chapter seems to focus on not resisting reality or fighting against what troubles us, but letting grace carry you along, trusting that time will straighten things out.

 

Some lines reminded me of Aesop’s fables -- the tortoise and the hare, the oak tree and the reed, the wind and the sun, etc.

 

About comparing it the wheat / weeds parable -- perhaps the common idea is patience? just a thought.

 

The last stanza also connects well to the beatitudes—reversing the expectation that the strong will defeat the weak. Blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, the merciful, the peacemakers, etc.

 

I wonder if Lao Tsu provides any guidance on when it’s appropriate to stand up for yourself--does the Tao always tell us to yield? not sure what to conclude about this.

[JosephM]

I like your response Karen,

 

Perhaps the wheat and tares are the virtues and 'defects' in our character. Our awareness of them, in my experience, is indeed enough to wither the weeds away when the time is ripe. That's one way to look at it.

 

Joseph

[soma]

I need to apologize for such a long reply, but I felt a need to explain and explain.

 

I feel that Chapter 36 is uniting the opposites. When we waver between the opposite poles of the personal temporary world, as we know it and the non-personal timeless world, we miss the simple most vital aspect of life, its ultimate wholeness.

 

The mind favors material existence because matter can be perceived by the senses and the knowing spirit cannot. I feel what we call sin is an example of mind not aware of its spiritual side. The Tao is pointing this out by showing the opposite. Some say sin is a state without love. If we are not satisfied with our condition we only have to train our minds to visualize a consciousness where that condition can be changed. I don’t think if we have the sin of gluttony that guilt will cure it. I think the Tao is pointing to a healthier way.

 

As human beings we will never be satisfactorily explained in terms of isolated instincts such as appetite, survival and procreation of the species. Our main purpose in life is not to eat, drink, sleep and have sex, but to be human. Above and beyond these drives of our inner reality there manifests a feeling of pure existence. I think the Tao is hinting that when the mind craves ice cream with the force of gluttony behind it, a healthy way of thinking is important. To silence the disbelief that a material force opposes divine harmony we must realize that our mind attracted to ice cream and material creation is merely a mistaken sense of existence.

 

We can control our instincts by our will, but we also have the power to suppress, distort and injure the instinctive animals in us. An animal is never so wild and dangerous as when it is cornered or wounded so I beware because suppressed instincts can gain control of my mind and even destroy the little progress I have made on the spiritual path. As modern men and women we are threatened not only by our uninhibited drives, but also by our repressed instincts, which can do harm to our natural instincts. Therefore, some of the wild horses will have to be tamed while others will have to be healed. In practical terms, the force to eat a whole half gallon of ice cream is occupying my mind and no matter how I divert my attention it seems to continually be brought back to the ice cream. I know it is gluttony and I know it is sinful to eat so much, but I don’t think it is healthy to suppress it with guilt so I witness my mind and body while I eat it. I become aware of my feeling before, during and after.

 

Sin and gluttony are obstacles in the mind that have to be overcome in the unit consciousness. My linear mind is a slave that is never stable, never secure and is always at the mercy of change. My mind cannot rest because it can’t see the whole picture only the ice cream at this point. But when, it makes spiritual choices to live by reason and consciousness as a man over my instinctive, animal, blinding passion then my mind starts to live not only by the linear, earthly, physical life inherited from Adam, but by the harmonious spiritual life that is experienced in Christ consciousness and the Tao. The nonlinear gateless gate is real. Therefore, I need images of the earth and Adam, but also of heaven and Christ consciousness to build a world of success, happiness and health. As I eat the ice cream I witness that the sensation is not as good as the thought especially when I continue to eat and my senses and mind are dulled. Above and beyond the drive to eat and be satisfied with the sensation of ice cream manifests a feeling of pure existence. In a wholesome way the consciousness of pure existence witnessing the craving and yearning can decided what is good and what is bad without being manipulated with guilt.

 

 

As a peach seed grows into a tree or as unicellular animals develop into multi-cellular animals, the mind has been continually developing. It is still developing in humans because we are also being moved by the forces within as well as by the stimuli without. It is not only the need for preservation that drives us forward; it is everything about us including our worst and best instincts. Our whole nature including the cravings of our personality such as love, hate and lack of interest moves us in a continuous process from a blind force to a conscious intellect and will.

 

 

The Word of God is not linear; therefore, it is not possible to express at the same time a unity of all the diverse systems of the universe with only our minds and one bit of information because our linear assertions are incapable of expressing this unity. Our minds show this limitation when they attempt to regard objects, relationships and concepts as absolute because these things are not eternal, but are in eternity. They are values in an individual mind, which is linear and fixed on temporary things and not their relationship to the whole; consequently, an obstacle in the mind that has to be overcome in the unit consciousness. That is why I think evolution; spiritual awareness is a creative process that can be slow or rapid because it is the mutual reaction of an organism with its whole ecological situation.

 

Today, we see people forming "me-them" relationships and defining the other person or organization as an exploiter and themselves as the exploited. This is done to justify doing hurt or harm to another person or organization, but it doesn't present the mind with the extraordinary attitude needed to take one's physical work to its potential. I feel when we learn to conceive of our consciousness in the limitless pure consciousness of the Tao, God the Father that surrounds us; we reap what we sow in exact accord with our thoughts and actions. Ice cream and gluttony were characterized by fear. They were attached to old patterns and traditions, and according to old thoughts as sin. Now, they are the tools I used to get that log out of my eye, the thought of sin out of my mind. They were used to activate divinity and detach my mind from itself and elevate it to a higher realm. This can be found in Christ's words, "My kingdom is not of this world", also in the phrase, "Keep your treasure where no man can take it." Above and beyond our basic drives lies our inner psychic reality manifesting a living world that artist can only try to express in their creative endeavors such as ice cream. These spiritual experiences represent the mystical experience that is beyond the mind and body experience and merges all our hopes and dreams into one final climax.

[JosephM]

Yes Soma,

 

I agree . As i have said before, it seems to me, "Guilt is False and destructive and is not a necessary virtue to correct errors in judgments. Whereas, wisdom, understanding and increased awareness will suffice."

 

We can not change what we cannot see ( not aware of ) therefor it seems to me it must first flourish so that we can recognize it for what it is. Awareness of or being awake to the subtle what is happening or not happening seems to me to be a key to transformation. A wholeness does seem to be necessary for growth in this life in this human enclosure.

 

Joseph

[JosephM]

Chapter 37 now open for dialog or discussion.....

 

The Tao never does anything,

yet through it all things are done.

 

If powerful men and women

could venter themselves in it,

the whole world would be transformed

by itself, in its natural rhythms.

People would be content

with their simple, everyday lives,

in harmony, and free of desire.

 

When there is no desire,

all things are at peace.

 

 

Sounded a bit repetitive of a past chapter but perhaps someone will get something new out of it

Joseph