Tao Te Ching (#2)

Streaming thoughts while contemplating Lao Tzu

This is not to be read. It is to be felt. Read with your heart. Let your mind go for the moment. Start anywhere. Stop when you wish. There are no paragraphs. Only consciousness streaming.

Reflections on Tao Te Ching, Chapters 18-33

Set yourself free from the fear of death. Death is the greatest of fears. We sense its oblivion and struggle to avoid it.  This struggle causes suffering. Thoughts of gods and an afterlife help to assuage our fear. Whatever the path one takes in life, it will lead to the room within. You may gain all the world has to offer but it is never enough. You may lose all the world has given to you, but your truth remains. All roads lead to the way of the path. Eventually, at some point in existence, the room within welcomes you back home. And when it does, you awaken from the dream of separation to the awe of the eternal. Goodness arises in separation because of fear. Where there is fear, there is love. Where there is evil, there is goodness. Separation begat duality. Once there is duality, there is strife. Strife brings suffering. To suffer is to lose harmony with oneness. Oneness exists because there is separation. These are things that cannot be real in consciousness. They are the dream that is separation. You cannot know consciousness by invoking the qualities of separation. Oneness tells us what separation is not, but it is tainted with fear as is separation. Love in the world is tainted by fear. Thankfully, fear is tainted by love or there only would be evil in the world. None is real. The qualities of separation cannot be real. To touch the reality that is consciousness, walk the way of the path. Remember twia. Do not hang on every word of wisdom. Truth will escape you. Let go of words to find knowledge. Words block our view of reality. Wisdom comes from knowing within. The room within is empty of words. Clear your mind of thought. Live plainly and simply, without desire and expectation. Let go of the me of the body. Hold no attachments. Let twia expand to fill your world. Do nothing. Twia knows. Do not see with your eyes. Do not hear with your ears. Hold peace of heart. Know twia. What is this body to me? Nothing. Yet here I am. What am I if not this body? I AM that which I am. There is no other than I AM. This is consciousness, the mother of the whole of the all. The womb of the mother is emptiness that is nowhere. It holds all possibilities. This body that I am not is possibility manifested as existence. That which I am gives it meaning, otherwise it has none. Do I choose to see it as separation or oneness? The choice creates my world. Do I see only the illusion of separation, or do I see in you that which I am? The choice between separation and oneness is the choice between fear and love. Choose wisely. It is a false choice. In truth there is no separation or fear. They are no more real than a child’s unicorns. But like a child, you can create a fantasy of separation and fear in which to live. This fantasy is our existence in this world. Stop chasing after unicorns. Seek the moment. Live in its reality. To choose the moment is to awaken from the dream. There may continue to be unicorns in your life, but now you no longer see them as real. The moment comes to you in the room within. Herein is the I AM. Herein you touch the eternal. Do not put your mind to understanding these things. Let your heart know. Do not think so hard about these things. Let fear slip away. It is only the dust of the world. It has no substance or meaning. It floats about getting into the gears of life. Quit trying to make it real. There is no lasting happiness to be found from what the world offers. Seek your solace in the silence of the eternal. A lasting tranquility will follow you all the days of your life. Possess nothing. Be dull. Let others be clever in their ways. What is it to you if others attain the world? Jesus asked in Matthew, what will anyone gain by winning the whole world at the cost of their life? Remember, your fulfillment is not of this world. You are fulfilled now. Find it within, not in the world. The pleasure of life is in its innocence. Lead a simple life. Do not let desire and expectations detain you from the way of the path. Open your mind. Drop all pretenses. Find love in all the corners where you have hidden it. Where is your optimism? Where is your joy? Bring them out of the darkness. Dust them off. Live with them in the moment. Give them at least that much time. Do not let tomorrow ruin today. Jesus teaches to not worry about tomorrow. It can care for itself. What do you gain from such worry? Know within that you are the light of the new day. Twia shines in you. The essence of love is not lost in fear. In the darkest evil there is a flicker of light. It cannot be put out. Twia is the light of consciousness in the dream of separation. Twia is eternal. Twia is the power of consciousness-expressing. It has no comparison. It cannot be denied. The reality of twia is obscure in the darkness of the world. It is present in the room within, just beyond the veil of fear you have made as the me of the body. Do not hide from your reality which is twia. Do not run from death. Fall into its embrace. As Jesus implies, unless you are born again you cannot enter the room within. You will continue to suffer in fear. To be born again, follow the way of the path. Remember twia. Let love prevail. To be born again is to open your life to the eternal. This lies in the room within. Here is twia and the power that is called te in Taoism. It is the power of te that is twia. You are the creative force of the whole of the all. You know this within. Jesus says that if you seek you will find. Live in the room within and the world will loosen its grip on you. Fear will become love. To know this, do nothing. Sit in the still silence of the inner room. Let wisdom come upon you. Allow twia to prevail. Step out of the way. Lead a plain, simple life close to the ground. This is the way of Tao. Turn to twia to know your worth. You are far more worthy than you believe. The world lies to you about your worthiness. You are worthy of love, joy, peace, and prosperity. These are your true nature. They cannot be denied. Do not look for fulfillment from the world. It lies within. Follow twia in all things and the way will be made straight. Release your will to twia. Empty yourself of desire. Yield to twia. Awaken to the eternal. Stop thinking so much. Feel your way along the path with your heart. It knows the truth that is twia. The path to the room within is narrow. Narrow is the way. Straight is the path. To walk the way of the path is to remember twia. To remember twia is to awaken from the dream. To be awake is to view the world as one. In oneness you are restored to the power that is te. Am I lost and wandering alone in a godless world? Am I God’s child punished for wrong-doing? Must I atone for godless ways? Or maybe I am Spirit having a worldly experience. I think I am none of these. I am not of this world. I exist in form as the me of the body that is Darrell. In truth I am that which I am. I am consciousness-expressing. Those things that I am not do not last forever. That which I am is eternal. I have no separation. I am the power that is manifesting existence. I am one with the whole of the all. I am the extending of thought into action. I am movement. I am the energy that is expressing. This I know in the silence of the room within. The me of the body does not last forever. It is born from oblivion and returns to oblivion. It has no meaning. It is a vessel of existence. To identify with the body is to suffer. I bring to the body what I believe. I offer it peace. I offer it joy. I offer it love. I have no lack to give it. I live abundantly. What I believe in body comes to me. This is the nature of the expressing that I am. Belief follows thought. Experience follows belief. This is the way that is existence. I experience my own doing. How do I choose wisely? By walking the way of the path. By remembering that which I am. By doing nothing. I am the peace, joy, love, and abundance that comes to the me of the body instead of fear. My body is a sacred vessel of being. It is an extension of a thought in consciousness, as is the whole of the all that is existence. Be quiet. Be calm. Hold joy as your purpose. Find your way carefully. Do not step beyond your reach. Hold to the moment. Leave the past behind. Do not pine for the future. Your life is now. Live it fully in twia. Twia endures where the world does not. Your body is a limitation in spacetime. Walk in steadfastness on the way of the path. Do not be subject to the whims of the world. You achieve nothing lasting. Use the body wisely to touch the eternal. Then you are in the world as twia and not limited by the body. Your true nature is revealed. The me of the body cannot do it on its own. Its only power is given to it by the dreamer. Wisdom comes from twia. Wisdom is the way out of the dream. We grow daily in wisdom when we pay attention to twia. Learn to listen with ears that hear. Look with eyes that see. Make room for twia. Twia knows. Twia was before time began. Twia rests in the emptiness that is nowhere. Twia brings the whole of the all to existence. It never tires. It has no lack. It is consciousness-expressing. I AM the manifesting of existence. That which I am is true nature. Existence is appearance without creation. Nothing can be added or taken away in consciousness. Existence is the perception of the dreamer. The dreamer is twia moving upon the field of infinite possibility. Twia is consciousness expressing the thought of separation. This is the dancing of the dance. The dancer is the dreamer. When the dancer stops, there is no dance or dancer. When the dreamer awakens, there is no existence or dreamer. Be wise Follow your true nature instead of the ways of the world. Live close to the ground. You are planted in its goodness. Be simple in your ways. Tune your ways to the seasons and cycles of life. You cannot see the way of the path. It opens before you and closes behind you. The path wraps you in the moment. The moment touches the eternal. This brings wisdom to the me of the body, which it cannot do on its own. Twia cares for me and shows me the way. This me that I am not is lost and alone in separation. It does not know oneness. Twia knows. Twia is the one guide. Twia knows the way that I choose to follow in this body. The way of the world ends in the oblivion from which it came. The way of the path is eternal. In searching for the meaning of life I have found four things to be true. One, life has no meaning. Two, the only thing I know for certain is that I do not know. Three, Knowledge comes in the silence. Four, what is known cannot be said. Attempts, like this, are just words, so be still and know. Jesus says to go and tell no one. Joy trumps anguish every time. Joy is eternal. Anguish is transitory. It is only as painful as you make it. The roots of joy run deep in the ground of goodness. Joy is your true nature. Fall into the pit of anguish when you must. Let joy catch you at the bottom. Joy returns you to the light. It cannot be escaped if you open to the room within. Be still and silent in the light. It embraces you always. Your journey of sorrow will transform into the lightness of being. To walk the way of the path is to be in the moment. The way you have come is no more. The way ahead has no meaning. What does the eternal know of time? Herein, in the moment, lies your true nature. To know your true nature is to move about the world in oneness with all. You see with eyes that see and hear with ears that hear. You reject nothing. You accept all that is as it is. Existence, in all its mystery, is the pallet from which you draw the colors of your life. Twia brings you the hues the tints. Do not reject them. Do not judge their value or quality. Give to others what you receive. Receive from other what is yours to give. They are the same. Herein lies joy. To give is to receive. How quaint. Do you believe it? To give in separation is to lose what you have. Is that what you want? If you give me love in hopes of receiving it back and I squander it instead, will you trust me with more? Did my squandering stab you in the back? Was it a slap in the face? Are you anger at me? What if I did not squander it? What if I loved you back the way you want? Would you love me even more? These are thoughts of separation. There is no love in separation not tainted by the fear of its rejection or loss. Fear is the nature of separation. Love is the nature of oneness. To love in oneness is to give and receive without any difference. They are the same. We struggle for a foothold in this world. Why such strain, just to hang on? Why not let go? At what do we grasp? There is nothing here to hold to but the dream that we exist. Our lives are ephemeral. Just blips of dust on the winds of time. The more we clutch, the more that crumbles. We cannot hold on to nothing. Better to live in the world without grasping than to eventually chain ourselves to it for survival. What are we surviving with these chains that we forge? The way of the world is death. Live without attachment. Accept what you have. Be strong in the world but do not walk its way. Keep to the way of the path. Remember twia. Your power is in your innocence. Let the world come to you. It flows naturally to what it is not. Live simply, close to the ground. The way of the path keeps you grounded in the natural. Be invisible in the darkness while living boldly in the light of the world that is twia. Jesus says to go forth but tell no one the news. Hold to the emptiness that is the room within. Return to before you were born. This is your natural state. The world has shaped you to its ways. These are not yours to keep. Do not attach yourself to what cannot be. Be strong in the world. Yield to twia. Your true nature brings strength to your ways. Be receptive to the world without struggle. Keep the world and twia in harmony. Then you are held without grasping. There is nothing better than the sound of winter rain splattering on the cottage roof, unless it is the first fresh breeze of fragrant spring air wafting through an open window, or the warm summer sun on bare skin lying naked in the grass. Maybe there is nothing better than the orange and red of autumn leaves, or the crackling of a beach fire while breathing cool salt air at the dimming of a fall day. Yes! In the moment there is nothing better than now. Each of these is the moment that is true. In the moment I am that which I am. I AM twia. The me of the body may feel lost and alone, but twia is there to be of comfort and to guide. I cannot be separate from twia. Twia is the way in all things. Do not try to control that which you are. To try is to suffer. Twia is all things, the whole of the all. Twia knows. Do not think on these things. It is too much without knowing in your heart. Follow twia. When you are stubborn, twia waits. When you are eager, twia watches. When you are ready, twia knows its time. For your part, live simply. Hold peace of heart. And do nothing. Let twia embrace you. Do not push back the river. Do not try to reverse the way of the path. The past is gone. You cannot go back. To try is to fail. Your strength will fall away. Neither do you succeed by going forward beyond your reach. The river runs swift. You will drown. Be balanced in the moment. It does not require aggression or determination against all odds. Knowing twia in the moment is knowing harmony and balance. Flow with nature. Be in tune with your surroundings. Let the river come to you and flow as it may. Then it will nourish you instead of drowning you. Aggression is fear. The way of twia is truth, not fear. Fear attacks. Truth is kind. Be kind in your ways. Show compassion. You will succeed in far greater ways. Do nothing. Be your true nature. You are the I AM. Engage in twia. Harmony is the natural order. Be in balance with what comes your way. Nonaction is the key in all action. Be engaged in the moment. Herein are opportunities to be seized. Watch with eyes that see. Follow twia on the way of the path. Do nothing of your own desires. Engage in life as one who knows. To know is to hold the moment with peace of heart in all things. Lay down the weapons you have forged in fighting the world. The world is not an enemy. Turn away from conflict. It does not serve you. Be at peace in all situations. There is no victory in winning battles. Only death. You do not win by destroying others. In the end you die with them. Look at twia in all. Your neighbor holds the eternal. Do not deny your power. You are a force. You are the I AM. There is only one. Not you, me, and some power beyond us. I AM that which I am. Use the power of twia in balance and harmony as the whole of the all. It is your nature to be whole, complete, perfect, eternal. Live like you know this. Your power will guide you on the way of the path. This changes nothing. You simply will be what you are now. Know your truth and your power will prevail. The mind cannot comprehend these things. Do not try. These words are written in vain. What do they know of what cannot be named or described? Is it God? Brahmin? Tao? Consciousness? Creation? Yes, and more. It is all of these and none of these. It is nothing and everything. Why do we even try to comprehend? Because we are this thing. We want to know. Twia knows. To know is to do nothing. Release your life to your true power. You cannot control the world as the me of the body. Let go. Let twia. Surrender to the moment. Let it embrace you fully. Do nothing. To live in the moment is to see with the knowing eyes of twia. The eyes of twia see oneness in all things. Open the room within to all who would enter. This is the way. No one is alone. No one is separate. In you I see that which I am. You are that which is in me. The rock, the tree, the horse, the moon, the stars are all consciousness. There is nothing else. There is no other than the one. To live in oneness is to touch the eternal. Do not stray from the room within. There is the whole of the all. It has no end. The light beyond our knowing is the radiance of twia in the world that comes from the room within. The me of the body does not know the way. Twia knows the way. Twia is the guide in all things. Center on twia. Twia knows. I AM that which knows.