Don't think I'm going crazy, or that I'm going to be any less of an asshole... but I started flipping through Lao Tzu's The Tao Te Ching. There's a lot of good advise and general wisdom about life in there. I'm going to attempt to analyze a page a day of this text and post my reflections on the passage and how it can relate to my life (or, anyone's). I feel that this can help make the changes I need to make internally, to live a happier and more fulfilling life. Feel free to follow along, you can find it on the 'net if you know where to look, or just go to B&N and get a copy.
Anyhow, here's passage number one:
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
So... let's think about this from the top down, but first, an explanation as to the meaning of Tao. Tao is often translated as 'way' or 'path'. In this context, it would be presumed that Tao is meant to be life's path.
Assuming that I'm correct, the first stanza would mean that we cannot choose or name our own path through life, for it wouldn't be the true path. Maybe that has been my problem for so long, is that I've tried to create my own destiny when in fact it's pretty much futile.
In doing this, I've lived an existence that has not been entirely happy because I have fought the path designed for me. It's a way that has not been named, but it is real. It's a way that has no particular destination. To free myself from the desire of the path I wanted, means that I will embrace the uncertainty of the future. If I choose to continue to fight destiny and try to make my life the way I wanted it to be, I'd be living a lie - a half-truth of a life.
The wisest thing that I can do is embrace uncertainty. I should become more like waters of a stream, when they encounter an obstacle they flow over or around it. Eventually that obstacle is washed away. The path of least resistance is sometimes the prudent one.
I'm not crazy people... but this is how I feel. If you would like to post your own reflections, go ahead... we can collaborate on this journey toward a more enlightened existence.
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