The better part of the day had been spent walking in silence, which gave me time to think.  Then I would remember that I think too much and I would try to walk without thinking of anything.  This led to me thinking about keeping my mind empty and that wasn’t working at all.  However it did serve to distract me from the sights along the road as I passed by them.  I began to think that the more I tried to get the point, the more I was missing it.

It was about then I noticed the sunset pouring lazily orange across the mountains on the horizon.

“Isn’t that beautiful?” I asked Laozi, pointing toward the horizon.

Laozi paused, “It is a sunset.”

“Come on now, it’s beautiful.”

“When you find something beautiful, in like manner you create ugliness.”

“How is that so?”

“When you see some things as pleasant, then you must see some things as unpleasant, or else there would be no way to distinguish the difference.”

“Well, everything can’t be the same, right?”

“Everything is what it is.  By assigning extra meaning to things, we must also assign opposite meaning to things.”

“So by the existence of a standard such as good, we create by necessity the standard of evil?”

“Yes. Non-being sprouts from being.  Difficult is defined by easy.  Short is derived in comparison to long.”

“I think I see.  A high position is only in relation to a low position.  One perspective reveals the other and they are fully dependent on each other, so one is unable to exist without the other.”

“Yin is defined by Yang and Yang is defined by Yin.”

“I don’t want there to be ugliness and evil, but how can anything be accomplished without these distinctions?”

“The wise person will accomplish without doing.”

“That just makes no sense to me.”

“What will be will be without having to do anything.  We must trust in the natural balance of things.  By trying to alter that balance in favor of our will, we must contend with the complementary effects of our actions.  This is not saying that we must stand still, but rather we are best to move with the currents instead of trying to move against them.”

“So go with the flow, so to speak.”

“Things come your way and you do not stop them.  Things move on and you let them go.  Allow things to come without interference.  Let things be without controlling.  Let things act without exploiting.  In this manner you have without possessing, you do without expectation.”

I nodded and looked back at the mountains as the last light of day began to fade.  It was a sunset and no matter how else I chose to think of it, it’s still just a sunset.  There is no good or evil except in our minds.  Beauty and ugliness are just illusions we attach to things.  I felt a strange calmness as I considered these ideas.

The crackling of a campfire caught my attention and I saw Laozi sitting beside it.

“Do the work of the day,” he said, “and when it is done, forget about it.  Do not claim accomplishment and it cannot be taken from you.”

Taking a seat by the fire, I felt fulfilled.

Introduction: This is the first installment in a series inspired by my understanding of the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching).  I don’t have the ability to read the original text in its original language, but I have 25+ different translations as well as having read books that do go into character by character discussions.

I am certainly not the first person to write a series based on their perceptions of this Taoist text, nor do I claim my insights to be radically different than any that have occurred before me.  My goal is to simply share the wisdom I have found here and present it in a manner that is enjoyable to read.

A suitable shade tree is ahead so my friend and I take a break from our walk and have a seat beneath it.

“Laozi, what exactly is Tao?”

My friend looks at me.  He’s a middle aged man, his face dark and weathered from the sun.  Despite this, his eyes seem to shine, even here in the shade.

“Let me first say that no matter how much I  try to explain Tao to you, I can never fully describe it.”

“Yes, I’ve heard that.  Why, though?  Are you saying that language is too limited?”

“It is not language that is limited, but rather, ourselves.  Because of our nature, who we are, we have limits to what we can perceive. ”

“What sort of limits?”

“Well, take science for example.  Science is a process for understanding all things.  Various languages, words and even systems such as mathematics are used to describe both what is seen and what is expected to be seen.  Yet all of these can only describe what we have observed or what we can logically speculate based on our previous observations.”

“But how does this prevent you from explaining to me what Tao is?”

“Imagine if all of humanity could only see in shades of gray.  Imagine that our eyes physically could not see colors.  Nobody has ever seen colors, and there are no words for colors.  We would have names for the various shades of gray.  In fact, those would be our colors.  The visible light spectrum would be broken up into the various shades of gray by our scientists.  In one way, we have no less understanding of light.  But in another, because of our very physical being, our perception of light will be quite different.”

“I see.  Some things we do not know because we do not have the ability to become aware of them.”

“Yes.  But we can imagine them.”

“So what do you imagine Tao is?”

Laozi closed his eyes and exhaled fully.  His shoulders relaxed and he slid his hips forward as he lazily rested his upper back against the tree.

“Tao is everything.  It is all things and it is also the emptiness in the absence of all things.  It is all that we can know and all that we cannot know.”

He looked very peaceful as he spoke.  I closed my eyes and tried really hard to imagine what he was imagining.  After a moment, Laozi opened one eye and peered over at me, sensing my focused concentration.

“Do not try to imagine Tao.  When you desire to see, you will create what you want to see.  Only when you let go of that desire, will you truly be able to observe.”

“You just said I could imagine it!”

“What you observe when you are free from desire is different from what you create when you want to see, yet they come from the same source.  You know you can create, so now just observe.”

I did as he suggested and my breath relaxed as well. My mind began to  wander, not focusing too long on anything.  Eventually I did settle on the darkness which happened to be the back of my eyelids.

“Now, what do you see?” asked Laozi.

I smiled and said, “Darkness.”

“Darkness, and within darkness is potential.  Part of Tao is beyond experience, the darkness, the obscure.  Part of Tao is also what you do experience, knowledge, awareness.  They are different, yet the same.  This is the mystery and the beginning to understanding.”

I listened to his words and imagined them floating off into the darkness, being consumed as if they’d been sucked into a black hole.  I want to know so much, but in order to know more, I need to think less?  I could feel a frown forming on my face.  Right after that I felt the poke of a walking stick in my side.

Laozi was once again on his feet, “It is time to walk.”

Some thoughts on who we are…

1. The concept of Self is a temporary illusion.
2. We are each a sliver of the greater whole of life. We are as cells in the body. Each growing, living and dying.
3. Every body has a variety of cells. The cells of a healthy body work in unison.
4. Be aware that you can attribute to the health and disease of the greater whole.
5. Anger, hate, and jealousy are symptoms of disease. Avoid harmful and disruptive thoughts and actions. They harm others, you, and the whole.
6. You are not your body.
7. You are not the items that surround you.
8. You are not defined by anything material.
9. You are how you feel about yourself.
10. You are how you feel about others.
11. You cannot be separate from the whole.
12. You can believe you are.
13. Strength is found in acceptance of others.
14. Strength is found in the understanding that you are a part of others.
15. Happiness, love, and health are the products of embracing unity.
16. View everyone as an ally.
17. Recognize that not everyone will do the same.
18. Try to help those that are consumed with disease.
19. Accept that you cannot always do so.
20. You are your actions and your thoughts. Think and act positive, and you will be a positive influence.
21. Resist negative influence. Surround yourself with others that do the same.

There is an old saying, “Go with the flow…”

1. Life is energy.
2. Energy follows the path of least resistance.
3. By default life exists without complication.
4. Complexity is something we perceive when we observe conflict with the natural flow of life’s energy.
5. When we resist our own energies, we cause complexity.
6. When we guide and direct our energies, we experience harmony.
7. We can make special connections with others. These are direct energy bonds.
8. These bonds are permanent. They are a unity beyond the body.
9. Our connections to others represent channels of current.
10. If the flow between any channel is blocked, there is conflict.
11. There is a special love for those with whom you bond. Cherish it. The bond is forever, whether or not you accept it.
12. Allow the free flow of your life. Keep your mind free from negative thoughts. Assist others whenever possible, more especially those to which you are bonded.
13. Allow your energies to guide you just as you guide your energies. When there is complexity and conflict, trust in the natural flow.
14. Life is simple.
15. Complexity is resisting Life.

“Time is on our side.  Time is against us.  I’m just killing time.”

1. Time is a measurement of Existence.
2. There is no past. There are only memories.
3. There is no future. There are only expectations.
4. The only true moment of existence is Now.
5. Realize that your memories are influenced by both the Now and your expectations.
6. Realize that your expectations are influenced by both the Now and your memories.
7. Realize that the Now is influenced by both your memories and your expectations.
8. The Now is all existence. This encompasses all memories and all expectations.
9. Time is not a constant. Existence is not a constant.
10. The meaning and properties of Time are relative to the properties of the Existence it measures.
11. Existence cannot be wasted. It is infinite.
12. Time cannot be wasted. It is infinite.