MEDITATIONS: TAO TE CHING CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

the ancient child asks
how should you walk

I should walk as if each step
is touched by nature
and does not disturb the tao way of living

the ancient child asks
how should you talk

I should speak with a quiet honesty
that issues from my core
like an inverted bell
and not disturb the peace of others

the ancient child asks
how should you see

I should observe the count of life with my intuition
that honors my memory by setting it free
and not rely on the rational order of things, objects, and quantities

the ancient child asks
how should you enter doorways to infinity

I should regard every threshold as an entrance to a domain
that protects my sense of wonder
and guarantees a stranger’s rest in a friendly land

the ancient child asks
how should you join with life

I should bind myself to life with invisible knots
that can not be untied by any man
and I should be forever bound
and forever free

the ancient child asks
should you disregard or reject people

no
I should bless everyone that I meet
and give them a gift
even if only an earth searching smile

the ancient child asks
should you disregard or reject beneficial goods

no
for everything is useful as a reflection of the tao source of life
and if I am not blinded by utility
then I will instantly know how best to employ these goods

the ancient child asks
if you follow this course
who will you be able to help

everyone

the ancient child asks
if you follow this course
who will you be able to teach

everyone

they will provide me with the tools and substance needed to help and teach them

the ancient child asks
if they already have the tools and substance
why can’t they help themselves

because like the emperors and empresses of mankind
they have looked
and cease to see

having become enamored of looking and not seeing
they require a clever person
to pierce and steal the confusion
and show them the lustrous gossamer road
back to their essential nature

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

If ever you feel cornered between a rock and a hard place, stuck in a situation in which you can find no escape save for choosing that which you view as the least of all evils, then I implore you to do as Lao-tzu does here: enter into an inner dialogue with your potential self. I mean this literally. Just as one might, at his wits end, kneel at the edge of his bed and pray for answers, so should you turn your questions inward. Ask, without reservation and with a willingness to accept the answer no matter how terrible it may sound to you—and then wait. You’ll find that the wisdom to see through even the most dire of straights hides within you, that the key to unlock your latent potential for self-transformation is not found in externals but in your own instincts—in the hands of the ancient Child Archetype within.

Thus the discourse between Lao-tzu and his own potential begins:

“How should you walk?” Presumably, we will be walking on the Road or Path—the Tao. This is an implied metaphor, then, asking, “How should you go about living in accord with the Tao way of life?” A wise traveler suggests that each step, each moment to moment along the way, should be as if touched (perhaps blessed) by nature. The means to an end ought not, therefore, disturb or contradict the Tao way of life. Procedure should take precedence over outcome. The steps along the way to any end must be such that they do not act in opposition to the goal in the first place. Morality is in your decisions, not in externals outside your control. Do not compromise your character in order to obtain achievement. To do so will only result in a straying from the Way.

“How should you talk?” As if your words have power. Speak as though to lie is to sow discord into your internal nature and into how Nature manifests itself to you and others. Speak honestly, in accord with who you really are. Tell the truth as to how things are—but do not wield the truth as a weapon. Your speech ought to bring balance to others, not disorientation, possession, or despair. And realize that in trying to tell the truth, if in your attempt you do sow discord and division, then perhaps you are not being quietly honest at all but are instead speaking loudly as to spread false presupposition.

“How should you see?” With eyes looking beyond what can be seen. For he who thinks there is nothing behind the curtain because he cannot see behind it will become trapped by the limits of his experience. His vision will stultify. His imagination will crystalize. He will become incapable of discovering anything which tickles his incredulity. His whole world will reduce itself to tangible, external things and circumstances. He will turn away from notion of character and morality, and in doing so, he will become resentful and blind and an enemy of life.

Now for the hard questions:

“How should you enter doorways to infinity?” Perhaps this question might be more clearly phrased, “How might one turn every doorway into the entrance to the infinite?” This interpretation is derived from Lao-tzu’s answer. He says to cross each threshold as if what awaits on the other side is something ultimately benevolent; he’s telling us to move from room to room, from moment to moment with an attitude which affirms what life throws at us. Assent to what is to come in each stage of your existence, and your sense of child-like wonder shall be protected from the jading chaos that is the transcendent world. This message carries forward into the next question.

“How should you join with life?” Affirm it. Love life for what it is and not what it should or ought or what you want it to be. Do this, and you will have bound yourself to it. No man will be capable of harming your character. And in the same vein, Lao-tzu answers the following: “should you disregard or reject people? . . .  should you disregard or reject beneficial goods?” No, you should accept people and things just as you accept the rest of the world (for those who know me, you’ll likewise know that the former can proof very difficult for some). To live in accord with the Tao way of life is to is to be like water, seek your lowest point—your equilibrium—and in doing so to become a balancing force and example to others. This cannot be accomplished through hermetic isolation or avoidance. Likewise, though for opposing reasons, you should not reject what fortune Nature has blessed you with. It does not you nor anyone else any benefit to allow guilt to limit your potential.

Following this course—discoursing and listening to the wisdom of the ancient Child within yourself—will allow you to see the potential in others. You will become able to teach them the wisdom hidden from themselves but present within them—the wisdom that they have blinded themselves from because of pleasurable temptations. It is more pleasing to look without seeing into the transcendent, so you must be their clever thief. You must steal away their confusion; you must be their example of what it means to walk along the Tao. You must become the light shining in the darkness—like the light shining within yourself.

Lao-tzu. “Chapter Twenty-Seven”. Tao Te Ching; An Authentic Taoist Translation, translated by John Bright-Fey, Sweetwater Press, 2014. pp.52-3