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Balance
Adding my two cents worth to a conversation that ended years ago it seems:
For me it's a difficult task to find ways of expressing experience with Tao in words. Recently I've been trying to do so and I came across this website while looking into various translations of this particular passage.
I think society attempts to teach us that we are naturally "selfish" and we should act in artificial ways to restrain our greed according to morality, ethics, law, etc. so that we can get along together.... but I think we can shrug these notions off as being contrary to experience.
Why not do just exactly what creates genuine happiness? The people I've met who have managed to get ahold of considerable wealth and power didn't impress me as being happy or fulfilled or even secure. No matter how much control one achieves over the outside world it seems there's always something more to be controlled. The happy people I know are relaxed and loving, not interested in getting a lot nor in trying to be "good".
When living the Tao, I feel so deeply contented and peaceful that I have no urge to contend for "meat' with other dogs. I'd be inclined to feed the skinny ones. The distinction between what is "myself" and what is "other" becomes blurred. In healing another person I would be healing another version of myself. It's actually selfish behavior in that it indulges and expresses the authentic self. No benevolence, no rectitude, no altruism, just being who you naturally are is enough to bring the world into harmony.
For me it's a difficult task to find ways of expressing experience with Tao in words. Recently I've been trying to do so and I came across this website while looking into various translations of this particular passage.
I think society attempts to teach us that we are naturally "selfish" and we should act in artificial ways to restrain our greed according to morality, ethics, law, etc. so that we can get along together.... but I think we can shrug these notions off as being contrary to experience.
Why not do just exactly what creates genuine happiness? The people I've met who have managed to get ahold of considerable wealth and power didn't impress me as being happy or fulfilled or even secure. No matter how much control one achieves over the outside world it seems there's always something more to be controlled. The happy people I know are relaxed and loving, not interested in getting a lot nor in trying to be "good".
When living the Tao, I feel so deeply contented and peaceful that I have no urge to contend for "meat' with other dogs. I'd be inclined to feed the skinny ones. The distinction between what is "myself" and what is "other" becomes blurred. In healing another person I would be healing another version of myself. It's actually selfish behavior in that it indulges and expresses the authentic self. No benevolence, no rectitude, no altruism, just being who you naturally are is enough to bring the world into harmony.
Comments
I've found that doing balance-intensive daily exercises over many years has taught me to be much more present overall. Although, having no double blind control, I can’t verify this to be so. 'However, 'use it or lose it' seems to hold true at many levels as does 'use it to improve it'. Anyway, so what. I will just see this cup as being half full.
Mind you, balance training need not be a formal discipline such as Tai Chi or yoga. Balancing on one leg as you dry yourself after a bath, balancing on one foot while brushing your teeth and any other mundane balance work practiced daily can also get the job done.
In the end, balance in the broadest sense, and being present in the moment [chref=1]are the same[/chref]. This view has a certain symmetry to it as well. For example, there is the past, there is the future, and right in the middle we experience an eternal present moment. The present moment then is the fulcrum upon which we attempt to balance the past and future. Moreover, just to keep it interesting, that fulcrum keeps moving, flowing as it does from 'now' to 'now'. Personally, my sense of well being is highest when I am balanced – physically and otherwise. [chref=65]Only then is complete conformity realized[/chref].