Changing Places

Empty your bowl every day and see what comes along to fill it….

From “The Tao of Abundance“:

1.) The Nameless Tao
Wu-ming

Recognizing the unity of all things starts you on the path to true abundance

Universal consciousness, intuition, that is, is the origin of all art. — Piet Mondrian

2.) Nature
Tzu-jan

Learning to receive opens the door to your greatest good

There are joys which long to be ours. God sends ten thousand truths, which come about us like birds seeking inlet; but we are shut up to them, and so they bring us nothing, but sit and sing awhile upon the roof, then fly away. — Henry Ward Beecher

3.) Ease
Wu-wei

Following the path of least resistance brings success with ease

By letting go,
it all gets done.
The world is won
By those who let it go!

– Lao Tzu

4.) Flow
Ch’i

Circulating the energy in your life strengthens health, deepens relationships, and generates wealth.

Wealth is not only what you have, but it is also what you are. — Sterling W. Still

A man’s true wealth is the good he does in this world. — Mohammed

5.) Power
Te

Honoring your innate dignity and actualizing your inborn abilities is the road to authentic power

Follow that will and that way which nature confirms to be your own — Carl Jung

6.) Harmony (Balance)
Yin/Yang

Balancing yin and yang eliminates stress and brings peace of mind

Every part of our personality that we do not like will become hostile to us — Robert Bly

7.) Leisure
Jen

Taking time to be, to grow, and to nurture your relationships gives you the strength to persevere

Every man knows how useful it is to be useful.
No one seems to know
How useful it is to be useless.

– Chuang Tzu

8.) Beauty
Li

Achieving your destiny is a matter of trusting and embracing the organic pattern of your life

Beauty is before me
And beauty is behind me
Above and below me hovers the beautiful
I am surrounded by it
In my youth I am aware of it
And in old age I shall walk quietly
The beautiful trail!

– Navajo prayer

Jiang. Leader;military general, to take, to hold.

The quality of the leader determines the quality of the organization.

A leader who lacks intelligence, virtue, and experience
Cannot hope for success.

In any conflict
The circumstances affect the outcome.
Good leaders can succeed in adverse conditions,
Bad leaders can lose in favorable conditions,
Therefore, good leaders constantly strive to perfect themselves,
Lest their shortcomings mar their endeavors.

When all other factors are equal,
It is the character of the leader that determines the outcome.

Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao

___

A good thing to think about when deciding how you want to vote for our next president, and look at the results of the last seven years.

We face a coming time of upheaval and crisis. How we choose our leaders during this time is important, and will set the course of this country for the next century. What direction do we choose to move? Forward, with vision and strength, reaching out to the world to help through the coming difficult years, or inward, closing down, alienating our allies, hardening our enemies with weapons and strong words rather than weakening our enemies by being the shining city on the hill that reaches out to its neighbors, its friends and says, “Come, join us, live with us in peace and harmony. We will fight together with you to weaken the enemies that threaten us, but to all who come to us with peace, we are your friends and will support your efforts. Your religion is not our enemy, your nation is not our enemy, and we will not take your nation from you. We will let you make the choice to live in peace with us, and share our wealth with you. Tell those who fight us that we wish to make peace.”

That’s the America I want to live in. Not one that rewards its wealthiest, but supports its weakest. Not one that hoards the wealth of the world to those privileged few who use our armies to enrich themselves, but the America that shares its greatness and wealth and knowledge with the world.

We built this Internet. We use it to speak with everyone in the world we can reach. We shared it with everyone, without limits, without control.

We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
Wandering by lone sea-breakers
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
..
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.

– Arthur O’Shaughnessy

Is our American dream dying, moving into fascism and repression, or are we going to reignite that wonderful, real American spirit, not the fake one that the rich and powerful use to try and manipulate and oppress us?

We are the ones who get to decide. Especially you, who are younger than me. My generation is polarized, divided between those who already have but want still more, and those of us who know we have far, far, more than we could ever possibly need, and want only to share our wealth, our knowledge, our experience and our riches with the entire world.

We built you this Internet, children. It is our last, best possible gift to you. Please, use it wisely, tell your friends that they can make this the next, greatest generation of Americans the world has ever seen. We want you to be loved, admired, looked up to and blessed for the rest of the your lives by the entire world. We do not want you to be scorned, sneered at, ruled by a smirking leader who says like “Who cares what you think?”. We want you to pick strong, courageous leaders who can make this country great in the eyes of the world again.

I am only one voice, I am only one small person here sharing my hopes and dreams for the two wonderful people I have helped to bring into this world and raise. I do not want them killed in a senseless war to lead to wealth for a group of rich people who think they own this earth. I want them to live in a free, happy, open, giving and renewed country. I want a society where everyone knows their basic health is assured and their needs met, where those who have are willing to share, and the “have mores” are not the “base” for a president that promises them even more riches, but are the endowers of great foundations again and the saviors of the world from its medical and societal problems.

I want my kids to be able to walk anywhere in this world and be surrounded by friends and strangers who smile and thank them for being Americans, for being the best hope and strength of this entire planet.

That is my small little dream.

What’s yours?

No One But Us
by Annie Dillard

There is no one but us.
There is no one to send,
Nor a clean hand,
Nor a pure heart
On the face of the earth,
Nor in the earth
But only us,
A generation comforting ourselves
With the notion
That we have come at an awkward time,
That our innocent fathers are all dead –
As if innocence has ever been –
And our children busy and troubled,
And we ourselves unfit, not yet ready,
Having each of us chosen wrongly,
Made a false start, failed,
Yielded to impulse
And the tangled comfort of pleasures,
And grown exhausted,
Unable to seek the thread,
Weak, and involved.
But there is no one but us.
There never has been.

From the book Holy the Firm by Annie Dillard

from Wikipedia:

Mudita is a Buddhist (Pali and Sanskrit) word meaning rejoicing in others’ good fortune. Mudita is sometimes considered to be the opposite of schadenfreude.

The term mudita is usually translated as “sympathetic” or “altruistic” joy, the pleasure that comes from delighting in other people’s well-being rather than begrudging it. Many Buddhist teachers interpret mudita more broadly as referring to an inner spring of infinite joy that is available to everyone at all times, regardless of circumstances. The more deeply one drinks of this spring, the more secure one becomes in one’s own abundant happiness, and the easier it then becomes to relish the joy of other people as well.

The traditional example of the mind-state of mudita is the attitude of a parent observing a growing child’s accomplishments and successes.

Mudita is also traditionally regarded as the most difficult of the brahmaviharas to cultivate. To show mudita is to celebrate happiness and achievement in others even when we are facing tragedy ourselves.

The “far enemies” of mudita are jealousy and envy, two mind-states in obvious opposition. Mudita’s “near enemy,” or quality which superficially resembles mudita but is in fact more subtly in opposition to it, is exhilaration, perceived as a grasping at pleasant experience out of a sense of insufficiency or lack.

Somehow, I am still working on this one. I received some excellent news from a friend this week, and it was a bit hard to just be happy for him. He’s one of those friends who has cut me off to a great extent, though not as completely as others, and sometimes I simply miss those people very much. The saddest part of bipolar is that people are often so unforgiving of things that happened during a manic time, in a way that is hurtful. And even when they do forgive, the closeness that was there is lost and can’t be recovered.

Still, I am happy for my friend and wish him all the best. He has all that I ever wished for him and all that I tried to show him how to attain - so I should simply be pleased with that. But intentions are often misunderstood, especially when they are expressed by someone in a hypomanic state, as I’m sure anyone who has dealt with bipolar disorder knows all too well. Even those fun shopping sprees can have repercussions we don’t expect later on. It’s good to not be in that state anymore!

So while I don’t work to “just be normal” anymore, now I think I work beyond that even, to try to come to a place where I can be glad even for those who do not wish me well. And finding joy even for those who cannot let me be a part of their lives is a difficult, but necessary, step for me.

Zhen. True, real, genuine, superior, simplicity. In the past, people accomplished in Tao were called Zhen Ren — True Persons — in part, perhaps, because it was they who pointed out the way.

The paintbrush doesn’t make pictures without a hand.
The zither makes no music in its case.
A votive painting cannot stop a bullet.
Place a shuttle in a loom and it cannot weave alone.
Put a key in a lock and it cannot turn by itself.

A plane needs a carpenter.
A book needs a reader.
A field needs a farmer.
A wheel needs a potter.
A boat needs a sailor.
An altar needs a worshipper.

In all these cases, it is the person who makes things true.
Why blame an object for being something it isn’t?
That is why, in olden times, one who followed Tao
Was called a True Person.

Deng Ming Dao, Everyday Tao

________

What is the image of the ideal person, the sage (sheng ren), the real person (zhen ren) in the DDJ? Well, sages wu wei, (chs. 2, 63). In this respect, they are like newborn infants, who move naturally, without planning and reliance on the structures given to them by others (ch. 15). The DDJ tells us that sages empty themselves, becoming void of pretense. Sages concentrate their internal energies (qi). They clean their vision (ch. 10). They manifest plainness and become like uncarved wood (pu) (ch. 19). They live naturally and free from desires given by men (ch. 37) They settle themselves and know how to be content (ch. 46).

Why do we blame other people for not behaving in the way we would like to see them behave? If we don’t show others the way, by our example and our teaching, we cannot blame them for being as they are. True, some will choose not to follow where we lead, or follow the path when it is shown to them, but at least we will know then that it is not that they haven’t been shown the way.

Why blame an object for not being as you would like it to be? Either find the right way to use it, find a way to fix it to your purpose, or find a different object. Sometimes a tool needs sharpening. Sometimes you must use a different tool. Sometimes, you must simply choose to do something else for a while until you find the right tool. Sometimes you need to create a tool that does what you want.

I’ve found myself much more patient and calm in my life lately, mostly thanks to studying Tao. The daily lessons I read help a lot, but it is really observing the world with Tao in mind that helps the most. I am more patient with other people, seeing that they simply haven’t learned a lesson yet. I am more patient when I need something, knowing it will come into my life. I am more patient with the world, knowing it will change.

When the time is right to do something, you will know it. Until then, be patient with yourself. That is a hard lesson to learn, but the most important. Things will come into your life at the right time if you let them. When something new wants to come into your life, ask if it is the right time. If not, let it go. If you are not sure, accept it and then see if it fits in. If it is the right time, embrace it as your own.

When something want to leave your life, that is much harder. But it still has to be accepted. Losing things, especially losing people, is so painful. But when the time is right for them to leave, they must. Accept it, and move on. The path continues on. Be a Zhen Ren, and follow your path.

How we look at the world matters — if we look for possibilities, we tend to find them. If we imagine things are impossible, it becomes harder to see what is actually there…. and sometimes it depends on what we are looking for…

Mind Hacks: Rock climbing hacks! (now with added speculation)

Psychologists have something they call affordances (Gibson, 1977, 1986), which are features of the environment which seem to ‘present themselves’ as available for certain actions. Chairs afford being sat on, hammers afford hitting things with. The term captures an observation that there is something very obviously action-orientated about perception. We don’t just see the world, we see the world full of possibilities. And this means that the affordances in the environment aren’t just there, they are there because we have some potential to act (Stoffregen, 2003). If you are frail and afraid of falling then a handrail will look very different from if you are a skateboarder, or a freerunner. Psychology typically divides the jobs the mind does up into parcels : ‘perception’, (then) ‘decision making’, (then) ‘action’. But if you take the idea of affordances seriously it gives lie to this neat division. Affordances exist because action (the ‘last’ stage) affects perception (the ‘first’ stage). Can we experimentally test this intuition, is there really an effect of action on perception? One good example is Oudejans et al (1996) who asked baseball fielders to judge were a ball would land, either just watching it fall or while running to catch it. A model of the mind that didn’t involve affordances might think that it would be easier to judge where a ball would land if you were standing still; after all, it’s usually easier to do just one thing rather than two. This, however, would be wrong. The fielders were more accurate in their judgments — perceptual predictions basically — when running to catch the ball, in effect when they could use base their judgments on the affordances of the environment produced by their actions, rather than when passively observing the ball.

One of the things I most enjoy about Tao is the opening up of the mind to see more potential around you — the world becomes a place where so much more is possible. And yet, there are new possibilities every day, and if you don’t take advantage of them, so what? More come along tomorrow… it makes life both more full and less stressful, less limiting. There is much less that has to be done right now. The world becomes one big affordance….

Jue. To perceive, to feel. Tao has to be known with the entire self, not through words.

What does one do in the face of the most fundamental flux in existence that is Tao? Well, you could either stand in one place and let it go all through you, or you could take advantage of your volition and try to act within the flux.

Some spiritual systems hold that a deity comes first. Therefore, they encourage obedience over perception - you have to know what the laws are, but you don’t have to know why. The ancients taught a different perception of reality. They felt that the cosmos was great, but impersonal. There was no chance to influence the workings of time and nature according to the wishful thinking of humans. Thus, the methods of Tao are not ones in which one tries to conform with what a Big Mother or a Big Father tells people to do. Instead, it studies ways to act wisely within a constantly shifting dynamic.

This makes perception paramount. One needs to become sensitive and experienced in operating within an always developing set of surroundings. What counts then is neither dogma nor obedience to some divine ruler. What counts is perceptive action within the all-encompassing flux of Tao.

Deng Ming-Dao, Everyday Tao

__________

Perception is what causes so many problems between people in their lives. We all have our own perception of the world. I think what I gain most from studying Tao is an understanding that my perception of the world, of Tao, is limited. I can never know everything. I can do my best to understand, to see the world from as many viewpoints as I can, to try and study nature and learn how things work, and perhaps how I might work within them better, but my perception will always be limited. When I hear people trying to argue that they know best, that they have all the answers, who try to discredit the other side as “Unamerican” or “misguided” or whatever the buzzword of the day is, I smile a little.

But then I realize that others are being taken in by their words, and I wonder how we can reach out to those who are believing what they are told based on a party belief or a religious belief or whatever. Tao gives us tools, it gives us ways to reach out to others.

The shifting sands of time will move and change and this time of turmoil and strife will pass with it. But for now, we have to deal with where we are. Tao lets us stay calm and centered without letting the chaos of these times enter and affect our perception.

Find that quiet place within, and look for it in others. For those who lack it, try to gently guide them to it. Then, you can have a conversation. Without the anger, without the buzzwords, just talk gently about those things you find in common. That is where you can reach out to people.

Who do you need to talk with today? How can you reach out to them? Are you really trying to talk, or merely trying to force your viewpoint on them? And don’t forget to really listen.

This is one of my early Tao postings, from November 2004.

_______________________________________________________

Beginners acquire new theories and techniques until their minds are cluttered with options.

Advanced students forget their many options. They allow the theories and techniques that they have learned to recede into the background.

Learn to unclutter your mind. Learn to simplify your work.

As you rely less and less on knowing what to do, your work will become more direct and more powerful. You will discover that the quality of your consciousness is more potent than any technique or theory or interpretation.

Learn how fruitful the blocked group or individual suddenly becomes when you give up trying to do just the right thing.

Tao of Leadership

____

I think a lot of people are running around with cluttered minds these days. We worry about what to do about the direction the country has taken, we worry about how best to deal with personal situations in our lives, we worry about work, way too much. Perhaps the way to unclutter our minds is to stop worrying and start taking more direct action. Talk to the people around you, find out their real concerns and help them find some answers. Take your own problems and solve the ones you can, without worrying about whether you are creating the optimum solution. Get out of your head for a while and take a walk somewhere full of nature.

For me, my uncluttering spot is in my garden. I go outside and wander in the garden for a bit, and find myself feeling better about things. No matter what worries and concerns I have, they are small compared to a day full of sunshine and flowers and growing things. It helps living in San Diego where I can almost always count on a beautiful sunny day.

I think Americans really have a disease about getting things right, though. We want to live in the right house, drive the right car, send our kids to the right schools, live the right moral values. Yeah, sure we do. But how many people do you know who are simply happy with their lives? How many don’t worry about having enough money, even though we are among the richest people on the planet? Do you hear many people saying, “I have enough, I think I’ll just relax this year and not work too much?” No, we just go on with our disease, not realizing that if we stopped caring about having the right things and living the right way, our lives would be so much easier and better.

Perhaps that’s why I’ve come to focus on what is left. What’s left of my life, where I would like to go, what I would like to see, how I would like to live. Not what other people think is right, or even what I may think is right, but the things that are left out of most people’s lives. Beauty, simplicity, artful living instead of filling our houses with cheap crap. Time spent learning and growing instead of watching TV or spending yet another day working at jobs we hate to buy more stuff we don’t need. Why can’t America be about spreading fun and laughter instead of spreading war and trying to control everything? We have enough, people. Let’s learn to enjoy it, instead of wanting more. Unclutter our minds, our houses, our lives, and let’s learn to live again. Let’s share a new American dream - one about making life fulfilling again instead of filling our gas tanks, bellies, and houses full of crap.

Under Heaven, nothing is more soft and yielding than water.
Yet for attacking the solid and strong, nothing is better;
It has no equal.
The weak can overcome the strong;
The supple can overcome the stiff.
Under heaven everyone knows this,
Yet no one puts it into practice.
Therefore the sage says:
He who takes upon himself the humiliation of the people
is fit to rule them.
He who takes upon himself the country’s disasters deserves
to be king of the universe.
The truth often sounds paradoxical.

– Tao Te Ching, 78

Nothing is meant to be.
There is no predestination.

In ancient texts, the idea of predestination is very strong, but the usage of the the term is purely metaphorical. People in the past used the word to express feelings of affinity for a place, a time, or for others. But nothing of the future is set.

There is no cosmic puppeteer at work. We are solely responsible for our own actions. It is true that we can become mired in circumstances so strong and so far reaching that they will continue to have ramifications far into the future. For example, if we construct circumstances right, such as starting an organization to help others, then the good will last for a long time. However, if we fall far into debt and do nothing to help ourselves, then the bad will also last a long time. Yet in both cases, our lasting situations are results of our own actions. This is not destiny. It is causality.

Causality is from the past, and nothing is acting from the future. There is no script, no pattern to walk into. Everything has to be created, and we are the artists.

Those who follow Tao endeavor to have as few restrictions placed upon them as possible. By completing each action, they minimize causality. By living fully in the present, they absorb the best of what each day has to offer. By understanding that there is no literal destiny, fate, or predestination, they keep the future as free and open as possible. That is truly the openness of life.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

“The best weapon of a dictatorship is secrecy,
but the best weapon of a democracy
should be the weapon of openness.”
—Niels Bohr

Show me one who boasts continually of his “openness,” and I will show you one who conceals much.
– Minna Thomas Antrim (1906 - 2001) US writer

We tend to be so bombarded with information. . . This is antithetical to the kind of openness and perception you have to have to be receptive to poetry. . . . poetry seems to exist in a parallel universe outside daily life in America.
Rita Dove (1952 - ____) US poet, educator
In “New York Times,” sect. 4, p. 7, 20 Jun 1993.

“The brain’s calculations do not require our conscious effort, only our attention and our openness to let the information through. Although the brain absorbs universes of information, little is admitted into normal consciousness.” — Marilyn Ferguson

“I do not believe that sheer suffering teaches. If suffering alone taught, all the world would be wise, since everyone suffers. To suffering must be added mourning, understanding, patience, love, openness and the willingness to remain vulnerable.” — Joseph Addison

“The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.” (John Steinbeck, Cannery Row)

“Ineffective people live day after day with unused potential. They experience synergy only in small, peripheral ways in their lives. But creative experiences can be produced regularly, consistently, almost daily in people’s lives. It requires enormous personal security and openness and a spirit of adventure.” — Stephen R. Covey

I try to leave my time as open as possible. I guess that seems strange in our society where everything is so scheduled and planned to the last minute of the day. But for me, dropping the dayplanner from my life when I’m not consulting was the best thing for me, so the Covey quote is a bit ironic. . Scheduling is reserved only for the things that have to be organized with other people, and the rest of my time is as free as possible.

The funny thing is, the things you really need to get done are done, and the things you think you need to do but don’t really - get done, too. Somehow, in not scheduling time, there becomes more time, because you aren’t constantly thinking about what you “have” to do, and don’t end up feeling tired and overwhelmed by everything.

I do a lot of my “time management” by ignoring things. My house isn’t alway spotless anymore, but if no one is visiting me, nobody here seems to mind. And when unexpected guests drop in, they are typically more comfortable because they feel “at home”, and not ashamed of how messy their own place is. If I apologize for messiness, the usual reaction is, “you ought to see my place!” I have someone in to deep clean every three weeks or so, and the rest of the time, if the laundry and dishes are done, and the bathroom and kitchen are reasonably clean, we’re doing all right. The best way to keep things clean is to get rid of stuff, so there’s not as much to take care of anyway. We live in a small home and there’s not room for a whole lot of crap to build up. The kids’ rooms are their own, and they are responsible for making sure we can walk through without injury. Beyond that, we just ask them (or bug them) to clean up once in a while.

The garden stays gorgeous because I am in it at least once a day or so, and whenever I see a weed I pull it - without feeling like I need to clean up all the weeds in the yard. When I am in the mood to pull weeds, I do as much as I feel like doing and leave the rest.

I’m not especially concerned about completed action in most cases. I’m pretty good about finishing tasks, but, being a mom, I’m also good about getting interrupted and still remembering what I needed to do. If you don’t handle interruption well (like my husband), then you need to be more concerned about finishing fully. But I think I’m at a place now where this is becoming more important in my life. I need to complete what I am doing or thinking instead of leaving things undone to be finished later.

I don’t believe in predestination, but I do believe in karma. There is cause and effect between what you do, how you treat others, and how life responds to you. People usually think of openness in terms of having nothing to hide from other people. If you think of your life in terms of cause and effect, though, and realize that what you do comes back to you, then you act without intent to harm others, and have nothing to hide. Then you can be open not just with your time, but your feelings as well.

I am reposting this since I had to be reminded of it today. ;^) With much thanks to Martha P. for whacking me upside the head. Namaste!

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Crimson light through pine shadows.
Setting sun settling in the ocean.
Night follows the setting sun.
Day follows the fleeing moon.

All too often, we tend to think of absorption as a static thing: Water is absorbed into a sponge, and there it stays. But true absorption is a total involvement in the evolution of life without hesitation or contradiction. In nature there is no alienation. Everything belongs.

Only human beings hold ourselves aloof from this process. We have our civilizations, our personal plans, our own petty emotions. We divorce ourselves from process, even as we yearn for love, companionship, understanding, and communion. We constantly defeat ourselves by questioning, asserting ourselves at the wrong times, or letting hatred and pride cloud our perceptions. Our alienation is self-generated.

In the meantime, all of nature continues its constant flow. We need to let ourselves go, enter freely into the process of nature, and become absorbed in it. If we integrate ourselves with that process, we will find success. Then the sequence of things will be as evident as the coming of the sun and the moon, and everything will be as it should be.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

I think humans fail to be absorbed in Tao because they are usually so self-absorbed. For me this was wanting for other people to see my viewpoint, instead of recognizing that theirs was just as valid. I tend to step outside myself more now, and see my viewpoint as if watching someone else, or a character in a story. Then I can see both sides of an issue, and the issue itself, and that it does not have “sides” at all, but is merely part of something larger, perhaps a part of shifting positions that have been in play for years or even decades.

It took me a long time to realize that everything is really about process. I was a software developer for years, and always had a process, and then watched as that process deteriorated and people stopped being trained as engineers. They would just hack things together instead of follwing the process of development. I went back into software QA and process management, trying to rebuild that process where I could. Now, I work on the process of my own life for a while and watch it in nature, in people, in all of life around me. I am fascinated watching the process of political change that is taking place in this country, one most people are unaware of. And so it brings me to Tao, because Tao is about process, and how things happen and how they change.

So, time to stop being alienated, and become absorbed. Not self-absorbed, but absorbed in nature and Tao. No need to feel alienated when you know you belong.

Drought burns basins to dust,
Light rain is a dew of mockery.
Receive without complaint,
Work with fate.

When the countryside is gripped in drought, it is useless to complain. Even when light rains fail to moisten the parched landscape, we should accept what happens. This is the way of Tao, and one who follows Tao accepts what comes.

We may have ambitions to move in one direction, but Tao will decide otherwise. We may have plans for the future, but Tao will bend time differently. There are those who will cry out in anger and frustration, but the follower of Tao remains silent and goes about the business of preparation.

Acceptance does not mean fatalism. It does not mean capitulation to some slaughtering predestination. Those who follow Tao do not believe in being helpless. They believe in acting within the framework of circumstance. For example, in a drought, they will prepare by storing what water is available. That is sensible action. They will not plant a garden of flowers that requires a great deal of water. That is ignorance and egotism.

Acceptance is a dynamic act. It should not signal inertness, stagnation, or inactivity. One should simply ascertain what the situation requires and then implement what one thinks is best. As long as one’s deeds are in accord with the time and one leaves no sloppy traces, then the action is correct.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

Accept and you become whole,
Bend and you straighten,
Empty and you fill,
Decay and you renew,
Want and you acquire,
Fulfill and you become confused.

The sage accepts the World
As the World accepts Tao;
He does not display himself, so is clearly seen,
Does not justify himself, so is famed,
Does not boast, so is credited,
Does not glory, so excels,
Does not contend, so no one contends against him.

The saints said, “Accept and you become whole”,
Once whole, the World is as your home.

– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching

Sometimes I just feel like I need to repost this every day. As much as I work to accept my life as it is now as I try and work towards my goals, I still desire the fulfillment, instead of accepting that the work is the important part.

Even desiring acceptance is the wrong path….

I love this post of Casey’s today - please go read the whole thing.

A Personal Tao: Exploring Life with Poetry and Muses

More fundamentally, the problem is deeper, being rooted in everyday lifestyles. In doing nothing meaningful, by being comfortable, by pushing one’s choices out from the home to larger social systems, by not working locally with others. Our society actually removes personal freedom. I am saying this partly because our research also showed an additional surprising truth: the programs and education which worked the best (by a factor of 10 to 1) were the small local programs with active community participation. The larger, more generic programs didn’t nearly improve things to the same effect as acting locally.

So a truth is:

To make a difference isn’t: waiting for government to change or by creating large scale “solutions”. Instead changing personal & local activities to pro-actively live in kindness, working directly with the local community becomes the true force of 80% of the change. The small and local oriented changes are the ones which would make the largest difference in improving the problems we have with the United States correctional system.

In the history of Taoism:

Taoism always concentrates on the local community, on personal choices we each have and in being kind to each other.

While people might focus on the high profile items such as The Yellow Emperor, Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching or other high profile works or figures. This only represents the most minor part of Taoist history.

The majority of Taoist history is not even recorded as the majority of Taoist action occurs at the local or personal level of effort. Not many pay attention to the little acts, the helping of each other. Yet enough shrines and occasional scribbled notes of such kindness remain, enough to show us: that is indeed where the heart of the teachings in Taoism reside. Taoism ignores most of its own contributions on purpose! The ideal is to let go of ego and be an part of the larger universe.

Taoism resides centrally to the actions of the heart!

Living this way isn’t easy, which is why when given a choice many people opt for comfort. But a Taoist lifestyle does improve and increase the wealth of experience a 1,000 fold.

The reason we live is to experience life. Taoism is about acting to what you want to be and making life an experience worth expressing. Kindness is core to Taoist philosophy.

When people first learn about Taoism, they assume it is a selfish teaching. However, Taoism is the most selfless religion or philosophy around. The whole practice is to let go of ego and to be part of the universal essence.

I’ve been accused of being selfish and lost friends over it. The irony was that my “selfishness” was one of the most selfless acts I had ever done. It was a situation where I had let go of my ego and simply decided to be there for someone else, and for that, I ended up being ostracized by a group of people who decided their values were better than mine.

Whatever. We don’t always end up with our friendships intact when we take action, but we know our hearts and why we do what we do. And the increase in the depth and strength of the friendships and relationships that survived, plus the wonderful new friends encountered on the path, like Casey, make it worthwhile.

In spite of knowing,
Yet still believing.
Though no god above,
Yet god within.

There is no god in the sense of a cosmic father or mother who will provide all things to their children. Nor is there some heavenly bureaucracy to petition. These models are not descriptions of a divine order, but are projections from archetypal templates. If we believe in the divine as cosmic family, we relegate ourselves to perpetual adolescence. If we regard the divine as supreme government, we are forever victims of unfathomable officialdom.

Yet it does not work for us to totally abandon faith. It does not follow that we can forego all belief in higher beings. We need faith, not because there are beings who will punish us or reward us, but because gods are wonderful ways of describing things that happen to us. They embody the highest aspects of human aspiration. Gods on the altars are essential metaphors for the human spiritual experience.

Faith shouldn’t be shaken because bad things happen to us or because our loved ones are killed. Good and bad fortune are not in the hands of gods, so it is useless to blame them. Neither does faith need to be confirmed by some objective occurrence. Faith is self-affirming. If we maintain faith, then we have its reward. If we become better people, then our faith has results. It is we who create faith, and it is through our efforts that faith is validated.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

The point of faith is to become better people. Not to force your religion on others, but to better yourself. Not to strengthen your religion or return it to its traditions so you can glory in the past, but to allow yourself to face the world as it is now, and deal with life as it is now. Tao doesn’t encourage us to live in the past or long for some past glory days of Taoist rule, or go around converting everyone to Taoism, or to force our governments to meet some holy standards of justice. Tao tells us to live our own lives in harmony with natural forces. The “faith” of Tao is to know that if you follow its principles and move in harmony with the Tao, your life will naturally become better.

And it does. That’s the beauty of it. It works. Just as Christianity does if you truly follow its teachings, and don’t reinvent your own interpretations of it to suit your misogynistic tendencies. Just as Buddhism does, if you follow its logic. Just as Islam does, if you follow its true tenants and don’t use them as ways to control the women in your society, or enforce the power of the Mullahs over the people to their detriment. Just as any faith does, once you get past the “rules” you’re “supposed” to follow and understand the heart of what it is trying to tell you - to treat other people well, to better yourself before complaining about others, and to live your own life in accordance with what you believe, and not impose that on other people around you.

For the unified mind in accord with the tao all self-centered striving ceases. Doubts and irresolutions vanish and life in true faith is possible. With a single stroke we are freed from bondage; nothing clings to us and we hold to nothing. All is empty, clear, self-illuminating, with no exertion of the mind’s power. Here thought, feeling, knowledge, and imagination are of no value. In this world of suchness there is neither seer nor other-than-self.

To come directly into harmony with this reality just simply say when doubt arises, ‘Not two.’ In this ‘not two’ nothing is separate, nothing is excluded. No matter when or where, enlightenment means entering this truth. And this truth is beyond extension or diminution in time or space; in it a single thought is ten thousand years.

Emptiness here, Emptiness there, but the infinite universe stands always before your eyes. Infinitely large and infinitely small, no difference, for definitions have vanished and no boundaries are seen. So too with Being and non-Being. Don’t waste time in doubts and arguments that have nothing to do with this.

One thing, all things: move among and intermingle, without distinction. To live in this realization is to be without anxiety about non-perfection. To live in this faith is the road to non-duality, because the non-dual is one with the trusting mind.

Words! The tao is beyond language, for in it there is no yesterday, no tomorrow, no today.

–Hsin Hsin Ming (Verses on the Faith Mind)
Attributed to Chien Chih Sengtsan, ca. 600 C.E.
Translated by Robert B. Clarke

Hubby is back from the Game Developer’s Conference in San Francisco - and I got presents! Yay! This dragon headed turtle is one of them, along with some yummy Teuscher’s chocolates and a nice hat and scarf from the Scottish store.

Dragon headed turtles are a Feng Shui charm:

The Dragon Headed Turtle brings with it the ancient secrets that can protect a home from negative energies.

The Dragon symbolizes luck, the turtle long life and the baby turtle is a symbol of new beginnings. The Dragon Headed Turtle (Tortoise, Terrapin,) is the symbol of longevity in your home, especially for the head of the house. The dragon headed turtle is also a powerful symbol of wealth, health, prosperity and protection.

Legend has it that the turtle has within his body the secret of heaven and earth and the design of his shell shows the magic square, which is the guide for life.

This beautiful dragon headed turtle can be used to improve relationships by placing a piece of red ribbon in his mouth, to attract wealth use golden ribbon.

If you are having Health problems place a piece of blue ribbon in his mouth.

To increase his strength place him in the North of your lounge or office or place him behind you when you are sitting at your desk to give you support.

To increase your success or improve your options place one inside your front door on a table, in the evening turn him round to face the interior.

Never place him in the kitchen or bathroom.

Activity is essential, but exhausting,
And its importance is only on the surface.
Withdraw into Tao at the end of the day.
Returning is renewal.

Each day is filled with activity. We rush around from meeting to meeting; we make all sorts of arrangements for the future. Such doings are important, but they are not all that there is in life. Even as we engage in them, we must remember that all human endeavors are temporary and provisional.

We cannot allow our accomplishments to divorce us from what is actually happening in the world. It is imperative that we withdraw to reflect upon the day’s events and collect ourselves for the continuation of our path. There is no need to go to a temple, a sacred spot, or a special room. We do not need elaborate ritual. All we need is a simple and natural turning within.

This is why followers of Tao always use the word ‘returning.’ They recognize the necessity of activity in life, but they also recognize the need to return to Tao. In Tao is the source of all things, and in the source one finds the renewal that one needs to go on with life. This back-and-forth movement between the source and the activity of life is the movement of all things.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

To hold until full is not as good as stopping.
An oversharpened sword cannot last long.
A room filled with gold and jewels cannot be protected.
Boasting of wealth and virtue brings your demise.
After finishing the work, withdraw.

This is the Way of Heaven.

– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 9

Effect emptiness to the extreme.
Keep stillness whole.
Myriad things act in concert.
I therefore watch their return.
All things flourish and each returns to its root.

Returning to the root is called quietude.
Quietude is called returning to life.
Return to life is called constant.
Knowing this constant is called illumination.
Acting arbitrarily without knowing the constant is harmful.
Knowing the constant is receptivity, which is impartial.

Impartiality is kingship.
Kingship is Heaven.
Heaven is Tao
Tao is eternal.

Though you lose the body, you do not die.

– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 9

Return is the motion of the Tao.
Softening is its function.
All things in the cosmos arise from being.
Being arises from non-being.

– Lao Tsu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 40

I do most of my Tao meditations in the morning, not at the end of the day. I like having my mind in a good place before starting my day, then I seem to not get so absorbed in the hustle and hassle of the day to begin with. In the evenings, I look at my meditation for the next day to start thinking about it, then empty my mind and relax completely, letting myself return to the ultimate of quiet places, and see what comes. By the next day, I am ready to put some thoughts together about that day’s meditation.

Well that is the plan, of course it doesn’t always work out that way. Life has its various phases of being busier than you would like it to be, and moods can overtake you to where you don’t really feel like thinking about Tao, even when that is when you need it the most. That’s why the masters encourage us to make a habit of it, I suppose, so that you do it whether you want to or not, like brushing your teeth. Well, I always brush, but I don’t always floss. I always work to try and quiet my mind, I don’t always succeed at doing it.

It amazes me how some people in this culture refuse to let quiet into their lives. They are constantly on their cell phones when they could be enjoying a leisurely lunch, blasting music when they could enjoy a few minutes of quiet in their cars, watching television at home instead of really relaxing in quiet and peace from their day. And then wonder why they are stressed out. I’ve taken to suggesting to people that they drink a cup of green tea in the morning before starting in with the coffee or soda during the day, since the tea has chemicals that counteract the caffeine in the coffee and its effect in increasing the stress hormone cortisol. My husband has been so much calmer since he started doing this. Now he’s giving up the soda completely. I drink tea throughout the morning, and soda sometimes in the afternoon. Much less than before, though.

How do you add peace to your day? How do you return to quiet and calm?

Movement, objects, speech, and words:
We communicate through gross symbols.
We call them “objective,”
But we cannot escape our point of view.

We cannot communicate directly from mind to mind, and so misinterpretation is a perennial problem. Motions, signs, talking, and the written word are all encumbered by miscommunication. A dozen eyewitnesses to the same event cannot agree on a single account. We may each see something different in cards set up by a circus magician. Therefore, we are forever imprisoned by our subjectivity.

Followers of Tao assert that we know no absolute truth in the world, only varying degrees of ambiguity. Some call this poetry; some call this art. The fact remains that all communication is relative. Those who follow Tao are practical. They know that words are imperfect and therefore give them limited importance; The symbol is not the same as the reality.

Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

In self-differentiating into all beings, Tao has initiated the first moment of communication. The second moment of this ontological communication is a process of returning back. All beings, as be-gotten by Tao return to Tao through a process of conversion. Cor-responding to the process of differentiation, is the process of con-version. Lao Tzu said, “All things come into being, and I see thereby their return. All things flourish, but each one returns to its origin. This returning to its origin means tranquility. It is called returning to its destiny. To return to destiny is called the eternal Tao” (ch. 16).

Tao, in self-manifesting in all beings, still works inside all beings in order that they return back to it. Therefore, differentiation and conversion, this process for to and fro constitutes the original act of communication. Tao in fact is an original communication. The process of communication constitutes also all things and man’s relation to Tao, because differentiation and conversion define our relation with Tao. Lao Tzu summarizes this relation in saying that, “Return to the Simple Origin must be the act of all things, since they are begotten by the self-differentiation of the Simple Origin” (ch. 28). Sometimes he uses the metaphor of the relation between mother and son to illustrate this: “He who has found the mother thereby understands the sons; and having understood the sons still keeps to its mother” (ch. 52). Lao Tzu thereby has well grounded ontologically all the other derivative communications between man and other men, between man and other things. Begotten by Tao and returning to Tao, all beings are ontologically related. We can communicate one with another, because we are all sons of the same mother.

– Vincent Shen

Extending our hand to another, we join with that other in a union of contact that embraces our essence. Satir captures this sweet realization in her reminder that we are all born little. The practice of psychotherapy and leadership have much in common; both are art and science, and both require the conscious and strategic use of self to facilitate desired positive outcomes. Lao Tsu’s counsel to those of us who want to change culture reads:

If the sage would guide the people, he must serve with humility
If he would lead them, he must follow behind.
In this way when the sage rules, the people will not feel oppressed;
When he stands before them, they will not be harmed.
The whole world will support him and will not tire of him.
(Chapter 66)

Likewise:

He who stands on tiptoe is not steady.
He who strides cannot maintain the pace.
He who makes a show is not enlightened.
He who is self-righteous is not respected.
He who boasts achieves nothing.
He who brags will not endure.
According to followers of the Tao, “These are extra food
and unnecessary luggage.”
They do not bring happiness.
Therefore followers of the Tao avoid them.
(Chapter 24)

– Jean McLendon, Tao of Communication and the Constancy of Change

“The first of the principles governing symbols is this: The symbol is not the thing symbolized; the word is not the thing; the map is not the territory it stands for.” — S.I. Hayakawa, Language in Thought and Action

So communication comes first from the Tao to us, by way of the initial differentiation. Communication with other people then becomes, in a sense, getting past that differentiation and back to commonalities, in other words, back to the Tao. If we are followers of Tao and that becomes reflected in our words, they will ring truer to others than if we simply speak from our own self interests.

But, we can’t expect this from others, so we have to learn not to trust so much in their words, but look more to their actions to know what their real purpose is. I’ve gotten to where I’m actually rarely listening so much to the words people say as to their mood, their feeling, their body language, and whether they have that glow in their eyes that tells me they are actually excited about and interested in what they are saying. If it’s obvious to me that it is important to them, I pay far more attention to what they are saying. Passion speaks volumes to me. Travel with passion…

On a day when I am not at peace with myself or my surroundings, Ascender comes along and kicks my cage door wide open. I was going to write something about how I am feeling today, but I think I’ll just link to her good wishes instead. Please click on her link below to visit all the bloggers she lists; I don’t have the time to fix all the linky love at the moment here.

Namaste, to all.

Studio Lolo tagged me with this ‘peace and love’ meme; to spread the word to send loving energy and thoughts to the places and people that need it. Rather then tagging others I hope to pass on some urls of my virtual pals who could use some of your loving energy and thoughts. Please leave some virtual peace and love to some people who could really use it right now.

Red Moon at the loss of her daughter

The Daily Warrior successfully fighting ALS for 16 years

Studio Friday is closing down. Stop by and show her some love for her dedication all these years.

Check out these bloggers who address peace and love almost everyday: 3191, a poetic justice, another poster for peace, anti-war us, Art For A Change, Art of Mark Byran, Artists Helping Children, Blog Like You Give A Damn, Blood For Oil, bricalu, Buddha Project, Change Me, Changing Places, Crafty Green Poet, No Blood For War and Profit, Inhabitat, kamurawayan, Light a Candle, Military Families Speak Out, Miniature Gigantic, Paris Parfait, Peaceful Societies, Pinwheels for Peace, Poets Against the War, rambling taoist, smile, smile, Take it Personally, The Peace Train, Treehugger, Visual Resistance, We Are What We Do, Betmo, Bloggers For Peace

I was reading Sally’s latest article in Yoga Journal today, “Waking Life”, which is excellent, by the way, and decided to check out her web site. She has a number of other excellent articles posted there, including this one which appealed to the engineer in me. Surrender is probably one of the most difficult concepts on Yoga for me (or any spiritual practice).

Sally Kempton, meditation teacher, Swami Durgananda

My favorite surrender story was told to me by my old friend Ed. An engineer by profession, he was spending some time in India, at the ashram of his spiritual teacher. At one point, he was asked to help supervise a construction project, which he quickly found was being run incompetently and on the cheap. No diplomat, Ed rushed into action, arguing, amassing proofs, bad-mouthing his colleagues and staying up nights scheming about how to turn the tide. At every turn, he got resistance from the other contractors, who soon took to subverting everything he tried to do.

In the midst of this classic impasse, Ed’s teacher called them all to a meeting. Ed was asked to explain his position, and then the contractors started talking fast. The teacher kept nodding, seeming to agree. At that moment, Ed had a flash of realization. He saw that none of this mattered in the long run. He wasn’t there to win the argument, save the ashram money, or even make a great building. He was there to study yoga, to know the truth—and obviously, this situation had been designed by the cosmos as the perfect medicine for his efficient engineer’s ego.

At that moment, the teacher turned to him, “Ed, this man says you don’t understand local conditions, and I agree with him. So, shall we do it his way?”

Still swimming in the peace of his newfound humility, Ed folded his hands. “Whatever you think best,” he said.

He looked up to see the teacher staring at him with wide, fierce eyes. “Its not about what I think,” he said. “Its about what’s right. You fight for what’s right, do you hear me?”

Ed says that this incident taught him three things. First, that when you surrender your attachment to a particular outcome, things often turn out better than you could ever have imagined. (Eventually, he was able to persuade the contractors to make the necessary changes.) Second, that a true karma yogi is not someone who goes belly-up to higher authority, but a surrendered activist—a person who does his best to help create a better reality—all the while knowing that he’s not in charge of outcomes. Third, that the attitude of surrender is the best antidote to anger, anxiety, and fear.

I often tell this story to people who worry that surrender means giving up, or that letting go is a synonym for inaction, because it illustrates so beautifully the paradox behind “Thy will be done.” As the god Krishna told Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita, surrender sometimes means being willing to get into a fight.

A truly surrendered person may look passive, especially when something appears to need doing, and everyone around is shouting, “Get a move on, get it done, this is urgent!” Seen in perspective, however, what looks like inaction is often simply a recognition that now is not the time to act. Masters of surrender tend to be masters of flow, knowing intuitively how to move with the energies at play in a situation. You advance when the doors are open, when a stuck situation can be turned, moving along the subtle energetic seams that let you avoid obstructions and unnecessary confrontations.

Such skill involves attunement to the energetic movement that is sometimes called universal or divine will, the Tao, flow, or in Sanskrit, shakti. Shakti is the subtle force—we could call it cosmic intention—behind the natural world in all its manifestations.

Surrender starts with a recognition that this greater life force moves as you. One of my teachers, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, once said that to surrender is to become aware of God’s energy within oneself, to recognize that energy, and to accept it. It’s an egoless recognition—that is, it involves a shift in your sense of what “I” is—which is why the famous inquiry “Who am I?” or “What is the I?” is central to the process of surrender. (Depending on your tradition and your perspective at the time, you may recognize that the answer to this question is “Nothing” or “All that is”—in other words, consciousness, shakti, the Tao.)

A rule for cleaning - but it applies to all of life as well…

10. Pay attention. Almost everything will fall into place if you do. Don’t think about the revisions in the tax code. Or anything else. In Latin: Age quod agis — “Do what you are doing.”