Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Now, What Should I Do?
[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read, :? the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]
Now, if we could only test our 'bosses' to see who values his body more than dominion over the empire before they start leading others. But, then we would have no leaders
. Often, if not always, we are driven to do what we do in life as a way – a [chref=53]by-path[/chref] perhaps – to compensate for what we lack. We are pulled to fill a void. Instead, [chref=5]better to hold fast to the void[/chref], eh? On the other hand, Nature abhors a vacuum so what choice do we have? It is enlightening to observes human activity in this way, i.e. as a symptom of some unseen inner void. In other words, [chref=40]weakness is the means the way employs[/chref]. This deeper [chref=43]understanding[/chref] helps us know that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.
He who loves his body more that dominion over the empire can be given custody of the empire certainly passes as a decent rationalization for devoting more care to the original equipment with which we are born – Body, Breath, and Mind. Of course, like New Year's resolutions, rationalizations never truly really work. Unless, of course, we're filling a void, in which case our rationalizations are just 'hindsight icing' on life's cake.
The literal Chinese goes pretty much like this:
favor disgrace like frightened,
fortune (valuable) big misfortune like body.
how say favor disgrace like frightening?
favor becomes down
of gain like frightened, of lose like frightened.
is say favor disgrace like frightened.
how say fortune big misfortune like body?
I as a result have big misfortune, for I have body,
reach I without body, I have what misfortune?
hence, fortune take body as heaven under, like can entrust heaven under.
love take body as heaven under, like can entrust heaven under.
And now cooked slightly to make it palatable:
Favor and disgrace are likewise unsettling,
Fortune and disaster are like the body.
How can we say favor and disgrace are unsettling?
Favor falls - To gain or lose it are likewise unsettling.
How can we say that fortune and disaster are like the body?
I will have disaster as a result of having a body,
In reaching a time without a body, what disaster have I?
Hence, in regarding the body as fortune above all under heaven, I can be entrusted with all.
Loving the body above all under heaven, I can be entrusted with all under heaven.
Now, if we could only test our 'bosses' to see who values his body more than dominion over the empire before they start leading others. But, then we would have no leaders
. Often, if not always, we are driven to do what we do in life as a way – a [chref=53]by-path[/chref] perhaps – to compensate for what we lack. We are pulled to fill a void. Instead, [chref=5]better to hold fast to the void[/chref], eh? On the other hand, Nature abhors a vacuum so what choice do we have? It is enlightening to observes human activity in this way, i.e. as a symptom of some unseen inner void. In other words, [chref=40]weakness is the means the way employs[/chref]. This deeper [chref=43]understanding[/chref] helps us know that the Emperor is wearing no clothes.He who loves his body more that dominion over the empire can be given custody of the empire certainly passes as a decent rationalization for devoting more care to the original equipment with which we are born – Body, Breath, and Mind. Of course, like New Year's resolutions, rationalizations never truly really work. Unless, of course, we're filling a void, in which case our rationalizations are just 'hindsight icing' on life's cake.
The literal Chinese goes pretty much like this:
favor disgrace like frightened,
fortune (valuable) big misfortune like body.
how say favor disgrace like frightening?
favor becomes down
of gain like frightened, of lose like frightened.
is say favor disgrace like frightened.
how say fortune big misfortune like body?
I as a result have big misfortune, for I have body,
reach I without body, I have what misfortune?
hence, fortune take body as heaven under, like can entrust heaven under.
love take body as heaven under, like can entrust heaven under.
And now cooked slightly to make it palatable:
Favor and disgrace are likewise unsettling,
Fortune and disaster are like the body.
How can we say favor and disgrace are unsettling?
Favor falls - To gain or lose it are likewise unsettling.
How can we say that fortune and disaster are like the body?
I will have disaster as a result of having a body,
In reaching a time without a body, what disaster have I?
Hence, in regarding the body as fortune above all under heaven, I can be entrusted with all.
Loving the body above all under heaven, I can be entrusted with all under heaven.
Comments
"Nothing! After all, [chref=2]the sage keeps to the deed that consists in taking no action[/chref]
"You mean I must just sit here and do nothing?"
"No!"
"Well, I'm confused!"
"Good! That is the best place to begin."
OK, enough beating around the bush. Simply said, the question, 'what should I do now?' is something of an oxymoron. 'Now' and 'should' exist in separate frames of references. 'Should' only arises when we are not truly present in our moment. It lives in an imagined future or past. Should arises from the shadows of a dream world where 'I' chews over what it thinks it needs to be happy. Should is symptomatic of the emotional conflict we experience between how things are and our ideals. Should happens when our imagined desires [chref=22]contend[/chref] with reality - often a reality we desire to avoid. Again, 'should' is a symptom of being divided between 'now' and 'then'; it doesn't exist in the spontaneous 'now'.
The simple fact is that when we honestly return to the moment, we always [chref=47]know[/chref] what we need to do in our heart of hearts (see If You Are Worn Out Trying... at the bottom of Buddha's Four Noble Truths ). [chref=46]Too many desires[/chref], i.e., imagined needs, rob us of this sense of immediacy, and so off we go on our [chref=53]by-paths[/chref].
Life is [chref=64]a journey that starts from beneath one's feet[/chref]. Now is always now, and always beneath our feet. When we [chref=21]follow[/chref] this path, 'should' is irrelevant; we take the [chref=32]names[/chref] and [chref=23]words[/chref] in our brain's thoughts with a grain of salt. This is what makes the way [chref=64]easy[/chref].
Note: There is a stressful social aspect to 'should'. A bonus in returning to 'now' is that 'should' loses much of its bite. We feel far less need to play that game. Of course, in the spirit of full disclosure I should add that, as humans, we are stuck with a big thinking brain that imagines a future and a past. So any thought of a total returning to 'now' is just another silly ideal. The good news is that knowing what's going on 'behind the scenes' helps us [chref=37]cease to desire and remain still[/chref].
Usually, I walk by these small insignificant things that need to be done on my way to doing something more important, in my focused way. So this day I decided to do whatever it was I saw that needed doing and doing it right then...as soon as I saw it. Lots of plants got haircuts. It was like a day of interruptions...well, sort of, but what was I interrupting.
It was a good day.
So I'm off to clean out the litter box (ugh). Talk about taking the lower position!