realizing the interplay of the tao way of life
and the virtue of nurturing all things under heaven
will introduce you to the primal mother

the mother of the world

resting peacefully with the mother
will introduce you to her sons and daughters

the sons and daughters of the world

these children can be exhausting
and though they mean no harm
trying to follow or control them
will only bring great danger to you

to be safe
rest peacefully with the mother

gently close your eyes
and look inward

softly direct your ears
to listen within

lightly close your mouth
raise your tongue to its roof
and quietly savor the interior

gently lift your crown
sit firm with a relaxed hold
on your bodymind

and let her love
fill you up

you will never be empty
again

remember
chasing children
brings calamity
no matter
how hard
you try
to follow
or grasp
them

the whole universe is in the palm
of your hand
but without
illumination
you can not see it

the real world is not open
to the rational mind

the ancient child asks
when you have rested sufficiently
in the arms of the primal mother
and your vision begins to clear
what occurs

it is an unexpected sense of making
that first arises within the bodymind

then you are engulfed in a benevolent flame
that outlines rather than burns
and I do not know if I am
the source or the witness

the senses play
leaping to and fro
mischievously acting against their nature

emotions of comfort and satisfaction swell
so that even the harshest rain
feels like a lover’s kiss

resting deeper
you feel as if an unseen enemy
has been vanquished
and life courses through your limbs
as the warrior’s belt collects you

the connection to the tao source and way of life
becomes punctuated and definite
possessed of a wholly benevolent clarity

language leaves you
and a light and sensitive energy collects at your crown

visions cascade upon you so rapidly
that it becomes impossible
to divide or discern
what we normally regard as real

death becomes impossible

fire and force penetrate deeply
within your bodymind
and a new truth shapes you
into someone altogether different

you begin to breathe
the tao way of life
as true respiration
within a quickening
that shines out
for all to see

spinning out of the quickening
you understand the mother’s children
you sing and dance
you paint and play
you look at the palm of your hand and

you see

you can still make mistakes
you can still be confused
you can still misstep
but you will always have the eyes of the tao

however
should you ever see yourself as separate from it

you will cease
to see
altogether

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

The Tao way of life is assent to our peculiar condition and position relative to the transcendent, objective, world. Assent gives rise to affirmation, and through affirmation our thoughts and behavior orient toward nourishing yourself and those things to which you are connected. But living in accord with this Tao way has more than just a nourishing effect. Living this way introduces us to the Tao source of life, what is archetypally known as the Great and Terrible Mother. This symbol describes our relationship to Nature and the universe. From its primordial disorder emerges all order in the universe. From it comes all things, and to it all things return. The Great mother is both that which sustains life and that which sucks it back down to drown and be devoured. Here, we shall discuss the benevolent side of this archetype as well as our proper relationship to “her children,” meaning the phenomenal world known to our sense.

First, a forewarning: do not pursue mastery or control over the children of the Great Mother. Worldly things may mean us no harm; they may even grant us tremendous pleasure. However, they are things in themselves separate from us. They are externals, and anything of external consequence is something finite and illusory. We do not possess or control externals, not even our own bodies. We merely borrow them, are leant them from the Great Mother who is the universe. And though various iterations of her children may visit us from time to time, if we chase after them once each child’s time is done, we’ll exhaust our whole lives’ energies pursuing ghosts.

Instead, we are better off letting go of externals, feeling at peace with each our place in the universe, and then turning inward. For inside are the impressions on our instincts which were formed by the metaphorical embrace of the Great Mother. These impressions are our animal nature. They are from whence we derive our senses of profundity, contentment, and meaning. And being animal instincts, they are irrational. Realize that they are their, but do not attempt to confine them with reasons and logic. The rational mind cannot understand—no, the better word is accept—the innate desires of the human spirit.

But how do we know if we’ve successfully looked inward? How do we know whether we’ve seen insight or have merely fooled ourselves? This is a question born from our higher selves. It is one we each must answer for ourselves, though Lao-tzu describes at least his own experience:

an unexpected sense of making . . . you are engulfed in a benevolent flame / that outlines rather than burns . . . the senses play . . . mischievously acting against their nature / emotions of comfort and satisfaction swell . . . even the harshest rain / feels like a lover’s kiss . . . you feel as if an unseen enemy / has been vanquished / and life courses through your limbs . . . language leaves you . . . visions cascade upon you so rapidly / that it becomes impossible / to divide or discern / what we normally regard as real . . . (Lao-tzu)

There is much and more missed and left out, but at least one process is clear. Out of the darkness of the Great Mother’s embrace, a new conception is generated. A new way of thinking is outlined, one that has the potential to invert our normal understanding of the world which we thought we knew. Unpleasantries become desired rewards. An unknown enemy or obstacle hidden within the self has been overcome. Relieved of former misconceptions, motivation surges. There are no words to describe what is felt, only dreamlike images of what suddenly becomes possible. It becomes difficult to tell how far these new possibilities go.

This may sound farfetched, but to those who have ever experienced subtle or sudden self-transformation can attest to the difference coming in one person and out another. It is a shift from aversion to tolerance to liking and then to longing desire. What was at first painful and agonizing becomes the very substance that sustains a meaningful life.

It is difficult to run at first, but in time, it can become one of the many joys in life.

Really, it is this simple. Enlightenment is not perfection, but love of imperfection of the self and of the world at large—a world which we are a part of. Do not forget from where we come, or else risk the blindness of separation and arrogance—then deceit, resentment, and ultimately revenge.

 

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Fifty-Two”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.101-04