MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER EIGHTY-ONE

words that communicate success
are not complex and showy

they are simple and direct

words that transform the bodymind
are not adorned and fancy

they are plain and well-placed

words that speak of the tao source and way of life
are open and few

words born of the union of perception and preception
are not true words at all

true words and silent

the sage wise man does not live to accumulate
instead
he lives to help people
because the sage wise man realizes that
how he behaves towards others
is really
how he behaves towards himself
and the universe

he is in harmony with the tao source and way of life

because
as man
he stands with outstretched bodymind and hands
between heaven
and earth

—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey

Here we are. We have arrived at the final chapter. This is the end of our journey together—or is it? I think not, for what I’ve learned along the way I intend to carry forward, to inspire and encourage me toward new learning and new understanding of things I formerly believed myself to understand. For all of you, I wish for the same. I hope that we all continue to grow and create, to learn and to remake ourselves at least a little bit with the start of each new day.

But before we go our separate ways, I ask that you entertain a bit of irony. After all, the Tao is the Way in accord with the ineffable, and so this whole Meditations Series has been a fool’s errand (with me being the fool in question for all my hypocritical attempts to use complex language to explain that which by definition goes beyond language). Nevertheless I think it valuable to put this book into perspective—to sum the wisdom imparted onto us.

The Tao is the “Way.” It is a way of living as to conform with the “source,” that is, with how nature (i.e. the world or universe) really is beyond our perception of it. It is the transcendent, and to live in accord with it is to affirm it for what it is. To do otherwise is to live in denial of what it is—to live in denial of existence as such. This is the ultimatum which fate has handed us. We must choose, but we don’t even really know what choosing means. We are disunified beings residing within a singular bodymind and in contention with one another. Without peace within ourselves, we cannot find peace in the universe. And so we must first be willing to let go of the safety and security of our presuppositions about ourselves. We must see ourselves for who we really are despite that doing so will require delving to our most retched depths until we find our lowest point—our position of equilibrium. Only there can we find balance, and only balanced will we possess the necessary poise to allow the tides of life to wash over us without being taken off and dragged into the ocean. And only on our feet with our toes deep in the earth and our head held toward the heavens can we understand ourselves and how we fit into the universe. This is the Way. We quiet our conscious aversions and desires so that we can hear the whispering of our voice of conscience, a voice formed by instincts shaped by the transcendent over generations until it found its hiding place inside of you. Through it is authentic wisdom revealed. Through it, self-deception and arrogance are avoided, resentment is abated, and vengeance given up. Through it, step by little step, we become our potential selves—self-leaders who others follow out of inspiration and admiration so that they may become their own leaders as well.

And all the while, the wise traveler himself doesn’t seem to notice. He’s too engaged in the moment, too busy living, creating, and enjoying his creations.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Eighty-One”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. p.144