Feb 14-17 Verse 13

Favor and disgrace seem alarming.

High status greatly afflicts your person.

Why are favor and disgrace alarming?

Seeking favor is degrading:

Alarming when it is gotten,

Alarming when it is lost.

Why does high status greatly afflict your person?

The reason we have a lot of trouble

Is that we have selves.

If we had no selves,

What trouble would we have?

Man’s true self is eternal,

Yet he thinks. I am this body and will soon die.

If we have no body, what calamities can we have?

One who sees himself as everything

Is fit to be guardian of the world.

One who loves himself as everyone

Is fit to be teacher of the world,

Ask yourself right now, What's my own nature if I have no outside forces telling me who or what I should be?  Then work at living one day in complete harmony with your own nature, ignoring pressures to be otherwise.  If your inner nature is one of peace, love, and harmony as a musical genius, for instance, then act on just that today.

Feb 10-13 Verse 12

The five colors blind the eye.

The five tones deafen the ear.

The five flavours dull the taste.

Racing and hunting madden the mind.

Precious things lead one astray

Therefore the sage is guided by what he feels and not by what he sees. He lets go that and choose this.

 The world tells us to trust only in our senses. To believe only what we see. The Tao guides us to trust our inner knowing, our feelings, and our connection to God. It’s only be letting go of our obsessions with life – our repetitive thoughts, our constant acquisition of more things, that we can choose to life a life of central peace.

I found this on mountainvalleycenter - To “play” with these ideas further, reflect on the following questions:

1.     Have you ever desired something just because someone else did, and then found that you didn’t like it?

2.     Have you ever stayed awake at night thinking about what you don’t have that you want?

3.     Have you ever made a judgment based upon appearance that went against your inner feeling, then found out that your inner feeling was correct in the end?

Feb 6-9 Verse 11

The usefulness of what is depends on what is not. 

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub;

it is on the hole in the center that

the use of the cart hinges.

Shape clay into a vessel;

it is the space within that makes it useful.

Carve fine doors and windows,
but the room is useful in its emptiness.

I had heard this verse in a mediation by Wayne Dyer. The space between the words, the silence between the notes that is what makes a song. Being a person that LOVES to talk, this really impacted me. It is in the silence, the breathe that the remarkable happens. True happiness is found in simple, unremarkable things. 

Mediation allows me to quiet my mind - no small feat. Turns out I like the silence almost as much as I like my own voice. Actually my voice is always softer after I meditate.

Feb 2-5 Verse 9

It is easier to carry an empty cup
than one that is filled to the brim.

The sharper the knife
the easier it is to dull.
The more wealth you possess
the harder it is to protect.
Pride brings its own trouble.

When you have accomplished your goal
simply walk away.
This is the path way to Heaven. 

We never seem to have enough. We always want more. We fill and we fill and this is how we live the bulk of our lives. Shopping for more, creating more in our homes. Looking outside for the more to fulfill us. Now is never enough. There’s always that better TV, computer, relationship, car, house, shoes, pen,

We are in an almost constant state of unsatisfaction, we turn against our true selves and go after this elusive thing that promises us happiness. We need to realize that right now, just as it is, is just right.  How can we ever be content when we are always seeking and searching?

This sentence - We can seek for the love of seeking and we can seek out of the compulsive need to seek. - has a very definite difference. I have a love of seeking spiritual ideals, ideas, concepts, ways. I also love a good sale which is more a 'want' than a love.

When your cup is full stop pouring - it just overflows and makes a mess of what you already have. The line about protecting wealth is intriguing. Do you work hard to make money to buy expensive items only to hide them in safes so no one can take it from you? Seems crazy right? I do it. I have my 'good' outfits and jewelry that are 'saved'. Erma Bombeck wrote If I had my life to live over and she talks about using the rose candle before it melts in the attic where it was put for safe keeping. That goes around in my head when I get possessive of my items. Why not wear fancy shoes to work? They might be out of style by the time I have a fancy event to go to. I guess it is more of an appropriate perspective. These shoes are not appropriate for work - says who?! I will wear them and I will feel pretty (on a subconscious level because I am not 'attached' to them:).

 

Jan 29- Feb 1 Verse 8

The supreme good is like water,
which benefits all of creation
without trying to compete with it.
It gathers in unpopular places.
Thus it is like the Tao.

The location makes the dwelling good.
Depth of understanding makes the mind good.
A kind heart makes the giving good.
Integrity makes the government good.
Accomplishment makes your labors good.
Proper timing makes a decision good.

Only when there is no competition
will we all live in peace.

I love water. Drinking it, watching it, swimming in it. Bodies of water are always changing and moving. Water flows, it goes around rocks, over blockages. It doesn’t cling, attach, or fight. When you find yourself feeling “rigid” or “blocked”, bring the image of water to your mind and explore options that would allow you to flow through the situation rather than pushing or pulling.

The verse also talks about ways to live a good life. Be gentle and kind, to speak the truth, to be just, to be competent, and to understand the timing of all our actions. Begin to sense the timing of events in your life, trusting life to flow with you at the perfect time and place for all your good to manifest. Once again letting go and trusting, a common theme in the Tao.

I found these ideas online - Reflect on the following questions:

1.     Where is your life flowing? Where is it stuck? How can you keep flowing?

2.     How could you handle daily activities more like water?

 

Jan 25-28 Verse 7

The Tao of Heaven is eternal,
and the earth is long enduring.
Why are they long enduring?
They do not live for themselves;
thus they are present for all beings.

The Master puts herself last;
And finds herself in the place of authority.
She detaches herself from all things;
Therefore she is united with all things.
She gives no thought to self.
She is perfectly fulfilled. 

Many of the books I read talk about putting yourself at the service of others. It makes you humble, releases your ego and helps you to begin to understand who you really are. If you aren't free of yourself then how will you ever become yourself?

To be detached from all things is an amazing feat. I like my clothes and my house and my car. Yesterday I was listening to interviews with families from Haiti and there was a 40 year old man who had waited for hours for a plate of food and water. He had not eaten in 3 days. He did not eat the food because he was saving it for his son. I am 40, I have a son. It really impacted me. When disaster strikes, your world is destroyed what becomes important? Not a sale at Talbots. What do you really need to live? to be happy? I know I would feed Conor before myself, but as I write that I am not hungry or homeless. 

I am always working on releasing my ego. If you have a fear of losing something that is your ego being attached to that item. If you fear losing your job - you are not your job, you are still you whether you have that job or not. It is the same for everything you fear losing. If you release the fear, you release your ego and you can just enjoy the experience.

Jan 21-24 Verse 6

The Tao is called the Great Mother:

empty yet inexhaustible.

It gives birth to infinite worlds,

yet its immaculate purity is never lost.

It assumes countless forms,

yet its true identity remains intact.

Listen to its voice,

hear it echo through creation.

Although invisible, it endures;

it will never end.

Without fail, it brings us to our own perfection.

The first paragraph is very similar to verse 4. The infinite power is always there, never running out. Constant love. I do like this verse portraying it as a mother. I can relate to it. 
As a mother I gave birth to Conor - he was part of my creation yet he is his own creation as well. My creative gifts are in him as are Kens as are parts of our partents as are his own unique gifts. That is how I understand giving birth to infinite worlds in countless forms.


The listening to its voice. I think we can all hear it when we are quiet, breathe and become aware. Each of us is creative in some way, a way that is uniquely us. Art, music, business, home, food, speech, words, etc. And when we are living our creative gift - everything seems to flow. It might be hard work or take a long time but it seems easy and the time flies. You are energized, excited. You can feel this in your life: events take on a perfect kind of momentum, a glorious cadence. You feel it in your body. When it happens I say hang on for the ride. As long as the song lasts, dance along.