Neng. Ability, talent, skill, energetic.The symbol is the picture of a large bear. The bear possesses great vitality. To possess ability is to be self-reliant.
Tao is a person walking along a path. No one is carrying that person. There is no vehicle pictured. Following Tao is something each of us must do by ourselves.
But the path is difficult. It will test you. Walking in the mountains is hard enough. Rain and snow will fall on you. Storms wash away the mountainside. Earthquakes shake the ground. Steepness wears at your legs. In life, the spiritual path is even more difficult. Although everything you want out of life is on that path, there are people who will hinder you and situations that will oppress you.
What do you do when life is difficult? You could call for help, but that is not always reliable. Sooner or later, life will catch you with no one around.
You might be without food and shelter during a time of natural disaster. You might be alone at a time when help cannot come quickly enough. You may even suffer the tragedy of having all your friends abandon you. That is why those who follow Tao emphasize the importance of having many abilities. If you have the self-reliance that comes with having many skills, you will not lose your equanimity. This cannot be emphasized enough. You cannot truly walk the whole path of Tao until you can cope with any unknown.
People say that those who follow Tao are serene, but that serenity is not because of some meditative trancelike state. It comes from the confidence of one who has ability.
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People sometimes remark on how calm I am. I guess a lot of that comes from having to deal with really difficult situations, so that things that bother most people on a day to day basis just really don’t bother me all that much. Perhaps that is some of the serenity of Tao.
I’ve been abandoned by friends. I think what it taught me most of all was to rely on myself, and not depend too much on the help of others. I’ve always been fairly self-reliant, but I think I cared a lot about what those I admired most thought of me. When those people who I loved abandoned me, it pretty much destroyed me. They never really appreciated what happened to me, thinking it was just me being overly dramatic. But it tore at my soul to lose these people from my life.
Losing my parents hurt a lot, but it is a loss that you have to expect with life. Losing friends, especially over things that could have been overcome with a little understanding and time, was not something I expected. It made me realize that there is truly nothing in life that is permanent, that you can count on without fail. I guess that is why the concepts of Tao and change are so appealing to me.
Most people think things in this country will never change, that we will continue to enjoy all the great benefits we have here. But I think we are on the edge of a dark time, and we will all need to learn self-reliance again, and who we can depend on. Perhaps those who abandoned me will even need help themselves sometime. I hope they are either self-reliant enough to survive, or have someone to depend on. I know they could depend on me, if they ever asked. But I doubt they will. As for me, I try to be self reliant, but always willing to share and be someone others can count on. And not too much of a bear.
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