Act without doing:
work without effort.
work without effort.
Think of the small as large
and the few as many.
Confront the difficult
while it is still easy;
accomplish the great task
by a series of small acts.
The Master never reaches for the great;
thus she achieves greatness.
When she runs into a difficulty,
she stops and gives herself to it.
She doesn't cling to her own comfort;
thus problems are no problem for her.
Tao Te Ching 63, translation by Stephen Mitchell
20 comments:
this, as with all your posts, generated some trains of thought that have not yet pulled into the station. about the trap that comfort is, how clinging to it impedes our evolution, and about giving ourselves to difficulty rather than resisting it. i'll sort it out and get back here.
It is difficult to live a simple, honest, decent life. Damn expensive too. But Lao Tzu's wisdom still works today. I've also tried this act without doing and have been accused of malingering.
Standing and Tag - You seem to be agreeing here. JSYK (just so you know), sometimes I have great difficulty with The Tao. Unless we are off in some self-sustained environment, it's just not very practical to give yourself to your difficulties. And just what does that mean?
Like I said about ACIM, sometimes I just throw the book at the wall...and knock down that wall plaque - I printed out that saying, stuck it in that little shelvey thing with a stuffed heart and a little Buddha because I complicate things so much by not facing them and it would be so much easier to live a simple decent life, but for me, the courage lies in giving up my wordly obsessions.
My response was, as usual, tongue in cheek. I believe we are talking about mindfulness, dealing with the incidentals of corporeal existence with the same attention and care as June Cleaver did with the Beav's lunch, or that nature takes with a dandelion. Of course that is very difficult to achieve if we are not living in a monastery or convent. Today's world is much faster paced than I apprehend. I wish sometimes we could start over and get it right. Unlikely though.
Huh? You mean we can't start over again and get it right? Tag, do you ever tire, I mean really tire of the spiritual journey? Don't take me too seriously. I think I'm just really physically tired tonight. Rough week.
I get disheartened much like Mother Teresa in our previous conversations. But then the sun comes out and all is right with the world. The Xanax doesn't hurt either.
i think we don't have much choice other than to give ourselves to the difficulties. resisting just prolongs the agony. and who needs more of that? :) how? same answer to every question: relax, stop assigning meaning to the meaningless, breathe, let go.
gj, i'm answering your question to tag, about tiring of the spiritual journey. i've been in a deep yoga slump for months now. been barely practicing asana. working on the other 7 limbs of yoga, poorly.
then i remembered. sometimes, its very beneficial to take a break, let things integrate. where we get confused is when we start thinking we're abandoning the commitment. not so. the commitment is a given. we move, and learn, in cycles. up/down/up/down.
and yes, it's been a damn rough week! hope your weekend is restorative.
Tag , you know, I keep a bottle of Xanax and just the ownership of it relaxes me - just knowing that I can turn to it. I rarely take one, but when I do run out, I get anxious. Yes, the sun does shine on a new tomorrow.
standing, "assigning meaning to the meaningless." That really hit home. It's so true. Your words are a good reminder that I am really committed to the spiritual journey deep down in my bones, but being human, I'm going to hit the spin cycle as I bounce off of the work-a-day-world. Thanks, I needed that, just as I need Tag's TED lecture. I see you enjoyed it too.
just when we needed it-
from the tao:
the sacred lies in the ordinary.
standing - how synchronistic. I just changed my profile statement as you were writing this. Ordinary Sacredness, even in the wordless appreciation, but in this case, your words are appreciated.
...and only spoken inside our skulls.
...and what's in our skulls resonates throughout the universe. You two are so cool!
yes we are! don't count yourself out of this, tag!
We three are pretty friggin' awesome!
Yeah, were pretty good. I love the way our separate blogs tie together on many levels.
Listen to you three. Like the Three Muskateers! In a good way, of course.
all for one, one for all. maybe that should be, all is one, one is all.
athos, porthos, aramis...hey! where's d'artagnan? or the candy bar?
Tag, yes I do love the synchronicity of our blogs sometimes. I just logged in another post tonight, thinking of you the whole time. I was picturing how beautiful the structure of the body is at the microscopic level. Tapping into this beauty and perfection is.....oh, you know I hate to say the word.....shudder....God. I even think our thoughts have a crystalline structure.
Badger - We are the 3 Musing Musketeers! Thanks for joining us.
standing - I think d'artagnan just arrived in a badger outfit....with candy bars stuffed in his cheeks...Yippee, they're 3 Musketeer bars!
woww great post good luck
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