MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

this one ordinary deliberate step

takes you away from increase
takes you away from scholarship
takes you away from material intellect

and makes you a relaxed wanderer
who knows more and more
by knowing less and less

the usual is used and loses
the unusual is experienced and gains

the world yields readily to suggestion

by swinging your bodymind open like a gate
you allow the world to enter
at the behest of your intention

enjoy the wonderwork
as your invited guests mingle within
fill their glasses
arrange introductions
and allow the moments to unfold
without any interference or commentary

wherever you wander

be the perfect host
be happy to be there

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

One step as many deliberate parts—let us review Lao-tzu’s means of being found by authentic knowledge: stillness and silence, obliqueness and uniqueness, self reflection and routine discipline, openness and courage in the face of disgust and fear, and last is humility by which one lets go of his arrogance which itself inhibits his ability to love himself and the world.

Together, these methods constitute each step along the Tao way of life, a path which renders immaterial material concerns such as abundance of prestige, power, and wealth. Fear is abated, because he who walks the Tao realizes that the only thing truly in his possession—the only the he truly has to lose—is his moral character. All else is beyond his control, beyond his mastery. Thus, not too unlike Socrates, he discovers much about himself by finding the limits of his ability. He becomes aware of his ignorance, and for the first time since he was a child can truly begin learning. Why? because his disposition has changed. This hypothetical man, now a wise traveler, has learned to love what he doesn’t know more than he loves what he does. As the young Nietzsche writing The Birth of Tragedy might say, he has refined his tastes as to be sustained when drinking from the cup of the tragedy of Nature. The experience and treasures are his, for he has made himself a dragon-slayer, undaunted by the dark, capable of traversing the abyss without need of fear of being swallowed up or possessed by it.

In fact, this man, our wise soul, humble despite his immense inner power (his mastery over his instinctive drives via incorporation rather than rejection of them), hardly ever needs to draw his sword. The order of his house has been reconstituted such that it is strong enough to withstand the wild impulses of his unconscious forces. When he encounters himself, he does so with an open door; and as a consequence of this, what is invited in manifests as inspiration, motivation, wisdom, peace with the world. There is no need for the ego to intervene. Through proper aim, he has cultivated his conduct. Through proper conduct, he has cultivated leadership. He has earned the respect and admiration of his inner forces. He has earned self-respect and loyalty by being the perfect host—one who accepts the imperfections of himself, of life, and who decides to make the best of every situation.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Forty-Eight”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. p.96