sage wise men of ancient space and time
were agents of the tao source of life
and as such appeared mysterious and intent
as they perceived the sacred voices and the subtle clues
of the miracle and its injunctions

their trance of wisdom was so profound
that they seem distant and removed
yet present and intrigued
as they gave their full attention
to observe the smallest of happenings
and while this behavior was beyond ordinary understanding
it can be described without looking to the mind

calculating yet spontaneous
a revealed attentiveness of a hunter crossing a frozen stream

fearless yet tentative
they behaved as if the teacher’s teacher had place a knife at every
quarter to keep them alert and aware

dignified yet playful
they conducted themselves as if to be the courteous guest of
everyone they met

humble yet resolute
they deferred to the ordinary forces around them without
submission and looked like ice yielding in the sun

authentic and unspoiled
they acted with honest simplicity as if the depth of their beings
were composed of concentrated innocence

receptive and approachable
they presented a rarefied space of sanctuary and repose inviting to
all

carefree and gently demanding
they blended freely with nature and with people but did not
sacrifice their own inner direction

the ancient child asks
who is it that can find quiet among the noise

the sage wise man sits comfortably still
and can lay down amidst the confusion

the ancient child asks
who is it that can remain calm and seize the moment

through engaged activity the sage wise man preserves his life and
the life around him

to embrace the tao way of life is to seek emptiness
as a means to avoiding spiritual materialism
and the entropy it induces

by not seeking accomplishment
you become endless and vitalized
continuously

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

Though in modern times we think primarily in terms of abstractions (perhaps “categories” would be a better word), it was not always so. Before our ancestors discovered patterns in the world and passed them down through explicit language— priorly through narrative, or through ritual and tradition before that—people conceived of the world as a “stage on which to act.” It was not knowledge of “what is” that was important, but wisdom as “how to behave.” And being primitive as they were, our ancient ancestors did not see so stark a distinction between mind and body, between self and Nature. The potential-self within them—that self which follows the Tao, which acts in accordance with how things really are—manifested so profoundly (perhaps as a product of being in such close contact with unyielding reality) that the part our sage ancestors played became difficult to distinguish from the whole of Nature itself.

This is not to suggest that these human beings were magical, just that they did not stand in their own way as we moderns tend to now. Being less conscious of themselves as beings separate from Nature, they were, as a consequence, less self conscious. Their actions were more spontaneous; their decisions, they did not doubt. Always alert and aware yet without the anxiety of conscious projection of future fears or the nagging memory of fears past, they had not reason to experience shame. They accepted what was without despair or meaningless struggle. There was no cunning, and therefore deception was not employed, and this honesty made them predictable—reliable—someone others could rely on to each person’s mutual advantage. Mutual, because those ancient sages’ individual characters were unshakeable as they were adaptive. Though they flowed with the course of the ever-changing reality, they did not divert from the Path even in service of others.

This mode of being is the sacrifice of “spiritual materialism.” It is the recognition that “who we are,” “what our roles are,” and “how we decide to act” are what are important. Achievements and material possessions are always things outside our control, yet one can learn to love the very act of living. One can find sanctuary in his own moral choices despite the chaos of the world. This is the archetype of the Primordial Child, a dependent being who matures into a being independent (the Hero), and then into a being others can depend on (the archetype of the Father). Perhaps this is the same as Jungian Individuation—to reunite the consciousness with the unconscious, to return to the innocent state of a child and from there to mature along the Road (the Tao) until, from child to hero, from hero to father, the stultified conscious mind dies and is reborn again into a form ever more adaptive, better formed to face how the objective world really is.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Fifteen”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.26-7