›

Chapter of the Week: #51 [Archive]

Luke AbbottLuke Abbott
edited January 2005 in Taoism and the Tao Te Ching
First, Carl.., It seems as if youve found a defense mechanism to deal with change and mishaps in your life. Why not try to have a strong sense of what you want and believe and not be detoured from that because of cercumstances. Try to understanding the experience and use it to grow, dont just keep moving on, youll never learn anything.

TO Buddy 1... CRYING IS NOT SELF PITY... your thoughts during crying might be self pity, during anger might be self pity. Ethier way its a form of outlit of releasal of negitive energy. I cry all the time and it feels good!!!

Comments

  • Luke AbbottLuke Abbott
    edited July 2006
    Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Chapter 51 was originally featured on the 1st week in January.

    Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.

    Chapter 51
    The way gives them life;
    Virtue rears them;
    Things give them shape;
    Circumstances bring them to maturity.

    Therefore the myriad creatures all revere the way and honor virtue. Yet the way
    is revered and virtue honored not because this is decreed by an authority but
    because it is natural for them to be treated so.

    Thus the way gives them life and rears them;
    Brings them up and nurses them;
    Brings them to fruition and maturity;
    Feeds and shelters them.

    It gives them life yet claims no possession;
    It benefits them yet exacts no gratitude;
    It is the steward yet exercises no authority.
    Such is called the mysterious virtue.
  • CarlCarl
    edited December 1969
    This is the chapter that guides my parenting in particular. It releases me from all responsibility in the matter! Does that sound crazily irresponsible? Ponder this... If I can manage not to take credit for the '[chref=2]good[/chref]' I do, then I am let off the hook for the '[chref=2]bad[/chref]' I do. Falling into this neutral zone has had one profound effect upon me... it has liberated me enough to allow the way (to) give them life and rear them. I should repeat, not taking credit for the 'good' frees me from the 'bad'. It is letting go of the advantage, 'good', which neutralizes its counterpart, the 'bad'. Letting go of the 'good' is the hard part. As that old saying goes, 'we want our cake and eat it too'. We want the 'good' without the 'bad', and thrash away life to get it. The way just doesn't work like that.

    The myriad creatures all revere the way and honor virtue comes naturally because it is natural for them to be treated so. So, why all the strife and religious acrimony throughout human history? The answer is so simple... tribal instinct. Of course, if we deny that we are animals driven by natural instinct, then the simplest answers will always elude us. Jesus gave his message to all people, not just the Catholics, or the Baptists or... who ever. So, why have people split Christ's path of love into some 40,000 (a statistic I ran across recently) separate Christian denominations? Tribal instinct.

    Circumstances bring them to maturity has helped me see my own life in perspective. The years have passed, and I've slowly been maturing. How natural, no different than a tomato on the vine. Dropping my ideals of what should be, lets me experience the [chref=1] mystery[/chref] of what is to the best of my maturity. Opps, I?m really putting the cart before the horse here. It is my lack of maturity that empowers my ideals. As maturity ripens, I no longer need my ideals and can let them go. The more helpless I know I am, the more free I am to be.
  • JoeJoe
    edited December 1969
    This really speaks to me of non-action from other chapters. Action comes from the way; the myriad creatures don?t have to ?do? anything, because existence just is. As I?m able to just live, without so many expectations, I find that whatever I do (whether normally seen as triumphs or mistakes), are more neutral, because I?m not the planner, I?m only the vehicle.

    The way gives them life and rears them ? how different from thinking that we each can direct ourselves, or we can ?raise? our children. Reality happens and all us animals grow up (and die). Maturity happens through the ?grace? of the way. I can?t bring myself to maturity. It happens through circumstances, which I?m certainly not in control of. When I can embrace this, there?s less emotional judging of life?s events, particularly the blaming myself because I made mistakes.

    I also think about how each of us can get judgmental, when we really don?t have very much information about a person/situation. When I can recognize that there?s the all-encompassing way covering all of existence, and that I really know nothing, I?m more able to let go of wanting to control things, to think that I have all the answers. Thinking I have control/answers just gets in the way and adds to the suffering inherent in the situation.
Sign In or Register to comment.