The Master doesn’t try to be powerful;
thus he is truly powerful.
The ordinary man keeps reaching for power;
thus he never has enough.
. . .
Translation of the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
skip to main |
skip to sidebar
Layer upon layer
She finds deep in her own experience the central truths of the art of living, which are paradoxical only on the surface: that the more truly solitary we are, the more compassionate we can be; the more we let go of what we love, the more present our love becomes; the clearer our insight into what is beyond good and evil, the more we can embody the good. Until finally she is able to say, in all humility, "I am the Tao, the Truth, the Life." S. Mitchell
Translation of the Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell, Harper & Row, 1988. In keeping with copyright law only the chapter under study is fulltext. All other chapters show only the first stanza.
Study Group Contac: Lissa Lord:lissalord@gmail.com
Tao in WordLayers
Layer upon layer
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI am breathing and as I watch my breath I come as close to doing nothing as I can get and yet, so much is done. In the moment of nothingness I am most powerful. This power is expansive beyond my presence and I melt into love, peace and pleasure until the chatter of my mind starts up with a “add coffee to the grocery list” or “where did I put those notes for class?” or “I left my jeans in the dryer!” . . .
ReplyDeleteThe moment of knowing nothing falls between the chatter. In that moment is a conscious understanding of peace and this peace is everything, absolutely. The world struggles to get peace and in the struggle is the defeat. In the effort to get something, you cannot. Tao 38 is telling me that I am already power—I am already love—I am already the book that I write. I ask, “How is this possible?”—and in the question is the struggle. The antidote must be to live not in the struggle but in the answer—live peace, live love, live the book. In consciously living the answer I witness my actions taking me closer. My reaction to the actions of others often brings them along into a journey that is theirs, also. The book, my book, is already written. My job is to read it aloud.
I have a dream of publishing a book. I took the photo above during a month residency at The Writers’ Colony at Dairy Hollow. I keep telling myself . . .You are here. You must be a writer.