MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
sit quietly
focus and forget
the ancient child asks
what is the great achievement
it is beyond description in any language
it can only be felt intuitively
it can only be expressed intuitively
engage a loose, alert, and aware
body, mind, and sound
then look into the formless
and perceive no thing
see yourself as a sphere
small at first
growing to encompass
the vastness of infinite space
sit quietly
focus and forget then
in a state of ease and rest
secure the truth of the great achievement
employing the truth will not exhaust its power
when it seems exhausted it is really abundant
and while human art will die at the hands of utility
the great achievement is beyond being useful
great straightness is curved and crooked
great intelligence is raw and silly
great words are simple and naturally awkward
engaged movement drives out the frozen cold
mindful stillness subdues the frenzied heart
sit quietly
focusing
forgetting
summon order from the void
that guides the ordering of the universe
—Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching; An authentic Taoist translation. translated by John Bright-Fey
Chapter Forty-Five presents what is perhaps another kind of guided meditation, this time the purpose of which is the dissolution of preconception—evidenced in Lao-tzu asking us to “sit quietly / focus and forget.” He goes on to give an explanation as to why silence, stillness, focus, and forgetfulness are prerequisites to achieve this conceptual dissolution.
What we are doing is opening ourselves (as much as we can) to the true, objective nature that is the source of our experiences. We are trying to see the cup for what it is rather than what we already believe it to be. To do this, we must eliminate distraction. This requires practice in order to strengthen discipline just to focus enough that the mind can sit still. Otherwise, stray preconceptions and competing thoughts will fill the mind with noise that drowns out the whispers of our unconsciouses. But eliminating distraction is not sufficient on its own. That only leads to “the sickness of the sickness of the mind,” a kind of Zen riddle not different than the trouble of the desire to eliminate desire. What must come next is forgetting. This is a turning inward, a painful experience of becoming aware of our imperfections. It is an admission of ignorance, an abandonment of the safety of the domain of the known—of consciousness. It is the voluntary exposure to anxiety and melancholia as we voluntarily venture into the unknown.
We go down into the darkness where we’ve been afraid or ashamed to shed any light. We go where we are blind, guided only by our instincts—our intuitions. From this place of formlessness, from this place where all ideas are entertained and no notions are taken for granted, we are instructed to see ourselves as the sphere inside. Jung would call this an image of the archetype of the Self. The alchemists would call this the Lapis Philosophorum. Whatever name or label, we are to imagine this sphere expanding as to encompass all of that dark, mysterious, unknown territory. We are to integrate those unconscious aspects into the symbol of our potential selves.
But this psychological territory will be difficult to take and difficult to hold. Naturally, what we intuit will fly in the face of our previous conclusions. This new wisdom will appear to us as incomprehensible confusion. It will seem paradoxical, contradicting itself or our preconceptions or both. However, if we can sit quietly, open and listening, focused on really hearing what our instincts have to say, if we can truly listen rather than project our pre-made conclusions, then we can reconcile the apparent contradictions. We can see passed our illusions and notice a new facet of the order of the universe.
Lao-tzu. “Chapter Forty-Five”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.90-1
