the ancient child asks
how do you access this great harmony

by becoming a long river flowing downward into the sea
of consciousness, mind, and will
seeking the lowly resting point
slowly along the way
not compressed by earthen dams
but naturally guided to the sea

the ancient child asks
how should you stand and speak to the world around you

with a portion of myself
within the earth
as nourishing root and length
more in it than above it

the ancient child asks
how should you lead the world around you

by example
without trying to control the common details of living

contending causes contention
have no part in it

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

We are eager to be leaders, and so we often think of ourselves as such—prematurely. We pretend to be that which we are not; we falsely assume possession of wisdom, power, and control. We do not heed the warnings because we are blinded to all that we perceive as below us, even when what is below us is the very world itself.

Seeing ourselves as above others only means that we have lost the very root of our psychological and spiritual nourishment.

Seek not to give commands to those who do not ask for them—and even then, be wary. Ask, “Am I an exemplar of the virtues I demand others hold? Am I in the trenches with them? Or am I a coward shouting orders from the safety the bunker?” Ask, “Have I earned the position I hold? How do I know? What does it mean to have earned it? How should I act as to ensure I deserve it after all?” Questions like these are in accord with the Way, for they deliver our conscious attentions to the greater body of unconscious wisdom and realization just as the winding river delivers water into the ocean.

The Way isn’t always straight forward. Often, it twists and turns down dark paths filled with thorns. Always, it takes us lower and lower, to the parts of ourselves we’ve tried desperately to bury or drown. But like the river, our natural course is downward before we can reach balance and access to the vastness that is the great unknown.

Harmony with nature is harmony with reality. To choose otherwise is the same as choosing discord. From these it follows: we can either become harmonious exemplars, or else we inevitably turn into cacophonous orchestrators.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Sixty-Six”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. p.126