Exercise: Experiencing Tao

March 25, 2010 · Posted in Tao 199 views

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I think one of the best ways to learn about Tao is to sit in a city park on a busy (and comfortable) day. Watch people. Watch nature. Listen to all the sounds. Don’t think about what the people are doing. Don’t ponder their intentions. Just watch the movement as a whole.

You will start to see how all the interactions cause constant chains of events, like raindrops in a lake. For example: the man tells the woman something she finds amusing. She laughs out loud. Her dog perks up its ears and wakes up from its sunny nap. It then notices another dog being walked by another woman and barks at it. This startles the birds in a nearby tree and they fly overhead. One of the birds drops a bird bomb as it passes over you, but you dodge it due to your awareness.

Nothing is being focused on, you are experiencing it all as one thing. It’s like listening to a symphony. Sure, some of us can focus on a particular instrument, but experiencing the whole is what is intended.

This will help you get a sense for the “flow” of Tao and how things are intimately connected. It’s even a useful way to just get yourself back “in sync” when you’re having a bad day, too.

Tags: birds, dog, listen, park, people, symphony, watch