Day 81 - #64

"What has equilibrium is easy to maintain.
What hasn't begun is easy to plan.
What is fragile is easy to shatter.
What is small is easy to scatter.

Deal with things before they arise.
Cultivate order before confusion sets in.

The greatest tree springs from a tiny shoot.
The tallest tower is built from a pile of dirt.
A journey of a thousand miles begins at your feet.

Interfere with things, and you'll be
defeated by them.
Hold on to things, and you'll lose them.
The sage doesn't interfere, so he doesn't fail;
doesn't hold on, so he doesn't lose.

Because projects often come to ruin
just before completion,
he takes as much care at the end as
he did at the beginning,
and thereby succeeds.

His only desire is to be free of desire.
Fancying nothing,
learning not to know,
electing not to interfere,
he helps all beings become themselves."

How difficult it can be to help without interfering, how challenging to respect oneself and still to honor others. People talk about the threat to or loss of identity in relationships--can it not be that we are more, and better, when together?

Day 80 - #75

"What makes people go hungry?
Rulers eating up all the money in taxes.

What makes people rebellious?
Rulers who can't stop interfering.

What makes people take death so lightly?
People taking life so seriously.

Those who enjoy life are wiser than
those who employ life."

This is a good one for Election Day. To me it says that both are necessary: Hunger and rebellion; taxes and rulers; death and life; seriousness and lightness. To enjoy and to employ: Can they not also come together? The question is, how much of each, and to what end?

There is a question in one of the textbooks I teach from: "What do you think is the secret of happiness?" My students are supposed to ask each other, but sooner or later they always ask me. I always tell them, "I think it's doing work you enjoy." Before, I thought I said that because for so long I had so little besides my job--but now I think there's something to it. Now I ask myself: Why work hard if you don't enjoy it? Why not find something to enjoy in the work that you do? Now I remind myself: Even if it's not the work of your choice--Life chose you and gave you something to do. Rejoice in it.

Day 79 - #70

"My words are very easy to understand,
very easy to put into practice.
But you can't 'understand' them,
can't put them into 'practice.'

Words have their ruler.
Events have their origins.
People who can't understand this
can't understand me.

The ones who do are few.
They wear coarse cloth and
carry jade in their breasts."

It has been said, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you." How often I have tried to stop Him in my stubborn refusal to get close. He must love me very much, indeed, because He keeps coming, almost despite me. I am afraid; He covers me. I cry; He hears me. I move; He follows me. I stay; He keeps me. He has indeed blessed me so very deeply. How can I do less than let Him lead me?

Day 78 - #32

"The primal eternal Tao is an unnameable
simplicity.
Though small, there is nothing under all of
heaven that can subjugate it.

If a leader abides by it, all beings are
naturally drawn to him.
Heaven and earth come together in harmony
and sweet rain falls everywhere.
People cooperate voluntarily, without
any instruction.

When this simplicity is divided, every thing
and not-thing needs a name.
Once there are names, the process of
distinction should stop.
To know when to stop is to be free from danger.

Tao in the world is like streams flowing
into the sea."

In the Catechism, it is written, "The desire for God is written in the human heart." Still, what a challenge it remains to pursue Him, much less find Him, in this broken world. I know I have been blessed many times over by Him working despite me and whatever I do. Slowly I've been learning to ask Him about His works, and how He intends to use me in them. 

Day 77 - #66

"The sea is king of the valleys and streams
because it is willing to be beneath them.
One who wishes to guide the people
should be humble in her speech toward them.
One who wishes to lead the people
must learn the art of following them.

The sage is above the people,
but they don't feel her weight.
She stays ahead of the people,
and no harm comes to them.
She has the affection of the whole world.
Because she contends with no one,
no one can contend with her."

I don't even know where to begin when it comes to humility. At Newman Club in college one evening a friend pondered whether it's really possible to be humble and know it; taking pride in one's humility seems like the ultimate oxymoron. Perhaps this is the point at which to distinguish--as one always must do thoughtfully, according to the Tao--between pride and dignity: The basic knowledge that one is loved and deserving of life. The basic knowledge that inspires humility. The basic knowledge that I still struggle so hard even to believe.

Day 76 - #34

"The great Tao floods and flows in
every direction.
Everything in existence depends on it,
and it doesn't deny them.
It accomplishes its work without naming or
making claims for itself.

Everything in existence is clothed and
nourished by it, but it doesn't lord
over anything.
Aimless, ambitionless, it might be called 'small.'

Everything in existence returns to it, and
still it doesn't lord over anything.
Thus it might also be called 'great.'

Because it has no desire to be great,
it can achieve greatness."

In my writing, as in my life, I've been inspired often by the quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson, "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us." In the context of this blog, especially, I think it's fair to say that Lao Tzu's wisdom is similar, "To see things in the seed, that is genius." Either way, I am reminded of why we say one, "can't see the forest for the trees." At times one's vision becomes clouded by an unhelpful, unhealthy attitude, or crowded by distractions and trivialities. When that happens to me, my faith reminds me in turn that to see each seed from which the forest has sprung would be wondrous, indeed.

Day 75 - #7

"Heaven is eternal, earth everlasting.
They endure this way because they
do not live for themselves.

In the same way the wise person
puts himself last,
and thereby finds himself first;

Holds himself outside,
and thereby remains at the center;

Abandons himself,
and is thereby fulfilled."

When I was a kid, I came to the conclusion that, "A life lived for others is the only life worth living." I actually wrote it down. I think that was the beginning of every important journey I've ever taken.