MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

living the tao way of life creates resonance
and a life that is lived

resonance possessed of its own momentum creates difference
difference possessed of its own momentum creates
heaven
man
earth

the union of these three produces everything in the universe
in a continuous wave
that can be embraced and ridden
by obliquely drifting within it

the ancient child asks
how can you drift with the universal

by precisely blending my bodymind’s life force

the ancient child asks
what must be blended to drift with the universal

body must blend with mind
mind must blend with will
will must blend with spirit
spirit must blend with engaged movement
engaged movement must blend with the void

the void is a doorway that sits at the center
of the universe

the ancient child asks
where is the doorway

between the beats of my heart
between the inbreath and the outbreath
between the beats of a drum

between the decision and the initiation
between my intention and my action
between the words on this page

drift and fly
by standing still
feeling the continuity
of the universe

there is nothing to worry about
no matter where life takes you
you are not alone and
you never have been

sometimes drift more and sometimes less
sometimes stop and look around
sometimes briskly fly from peak to peak

an authentic journey can not be forced

it unfolds with jostles and bumps
it sways to and fro

this is the only way to live

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

Many times during the course of these meditations we’ve discussed being, “in accordance with the Tao source of life,” though what exactly does that mean? To be in accordance is to be in agreement. It is to affirm, to assent, to grant. It is to say that life as it is is life as it should be. Said another way: each moment of life is justified and justifies the next iteration of itself. This is resonance—repetition, reproduction, an echo—and resonance is a consequence of living according to the Tao. To put it more concisely, the Tao way of life is to affirm the Tao source of life, which in turn creates each subsequent moment. This is the relationship between attitude and action. Each of our dispositions have consequences, on ourselves, then on others and the rest of the world.

Shifting from the ethical to the metaphysical (though perhaps it is wrong to describe this transition as a shift), we hear the Monomyth described in Taoist form: from that which exists over iterations of time, duality emerges. Order differentiates itself from chaos. With life comes death, with masculinity comes femininity. The creation of one creates its opposite; and with the birth of consciousness they two become separate. The heavens and the earth are divided by the discerning eye and mind of man—for he is the bridge, the being whose consciousness constitutes and reconstitutes order from chaos. From this process, all conceptions are brought into the world.

Returning to ethics, it is mankind’s condition to ride the chaotic waves or be drown by them. He rides the waves by flowing with them, “obliquely,” moving in the direction they carry him but also slightly in a direction he decides. This self-direction is the “drifting with the universal.” But how does one direct him drifting? By blending together his separate human elements. By bringing himself into peace and union. The body and mind must not be at war, nor the mind and the will, nor the will with the animating force (i.e. motivation or the “spirit”). All of their interests must coalesce, and then together they must enter the void:

the void is a doorway that sits at the center / of the universe . . . between the beats of my heart / between the inbreath and the outbreath . . . between the decision and the initiation / between my intention and my action (Lao-tzu)

The void is the emptiness present within and between each conception. It is the acknowledgement that within knowledge is always ignorance. It is humility, and it is the potential for adaptation and change. It is the Yin core within the Yang, and just the same, there is a Yang core within the Yin. Though it may transform over time, and though it never presents itself in a uniform way across individuals, there is an order within the chaos of the Tao source of life.

Sit still and listen. Hear and feel the changing of the winds. Open your eyes to those things you despise, that you’ve avoided, that you’ve refused to see. Incorporate what you find into your map of reality, and adapt your attitude and behavior to match. This is the continuity of the universe.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Forty-Two”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.85-6