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Chapter of the Week: #69 [Archive]
akin to: 'Trust in God, but lock your car.'
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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 69
The strategists have a saying,
I dare not play the host but play the guest,
I dare not advance an inch but retreat a foot instead.
This is known as marching forward when there is no road,
Rolling up one's sleeves when there is no arm,
Dragging one's adversary by force when there is no adversary,
And taking up arms when there are no arms.
There is no disaster greater than taking on an enemy too easily. So doing
nearly cost me my treasure. Thus of two sides raising arms against each other,
it is the one that is sorrow-stricken that wins.
I dare not advance an inch but retreat a foot instead, for me, is simply reining in the temptation to jump ahead of myself. 'Fools rush in where angels fear to tread'. Of course, it's easier to notice such impetuousness in others than see my own. But, that's changing as I age, mainly because I've suffered the aftermath of advancing an inch long enough now to be much more wary. It is not unlike a child putting their hand on a hot skillet. You only need do that once to learn because the pain is sudden and intense. The pain that comes from taking on an enemy too easily - or anything else for that matter - is usually delayed and more subtle. Thus, it also becomes easier to blame something else for the disasters that follow than to see the true source within me, i.e., my expectations.
Basically, it comes down to this: what you value most in life is inevitably the source of your greatest sorrow. You just can't separate these (you know,... :yy: ). That is why life flows better when I am more [chref=15]hesitant and tentative[/chref] and play the guest. Truly, I am a guest in this life visiting the world. I'm passing through. It's not mine. To feel, think and behave as though I'm in control only invites disaster.
The idea of 'Dragging one's adversary by force when there is no adversary', evokes in me a sense of anticipation not unlike I see in wild animals. In the 'wild', nothing is guaranteed. Civilization tends to lull me into complacency and that's when I take on life too easily only to have it all [chref=30]rebound[/chref].
There are so many examples in my life of dragging one?s adversary by force when there is no adversary. So many times when I?ve gotten myself worked up, being upset with someone who didn?t do things like I wanted them to do. They didn?t do anything wrong, but my desires (and illusions) were out of balance, causing battles/problems that weren?t based in reality. I?m sure I drove a couple of special women away in the past through this kind of thing.
If I?m pursuing desire blindly, thinking I ?know? the answer, then problems and battles ensue. If I?m questioning, unsure, ?tentative & hesitant?, then there?s more room to pay attention to reality, and to conform naturally to that.
Carl mentions about being a guest in this life visiting this world. I think of it as I?m another manifestation of the way, the constant. Dealing with illusions vs. reality.