My fitbit #Fitstats for 3/03/2014: 5,663 steps and 2.5 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 63 – Articulation
Rain dripping from eaves
Sounds nature’s poetry.
We speak and write to
Explain to ourselves.
Knowledge of Tao lodges in the same part of the mind as poetry. That is why the ancients expressed themselves in verse : There is the same quick perception.
When we are in touch with Tao, it is not our academic learning that is speaking, but the spirit of Tao itself. The old texts are very specific about this. That is why there is such a vast difference between the words of scholars and the words of a practitioner, just as the words of academics differ from the words of poets.
At the elementary stages of study, we need to articulate our experiences and let Tao flow through us. Followers of Tao frequently use writing, art, and even poetry as tools for self-discovery. By articulating their experiences, it helps them to understand the stages they are going through. Once they can do this, it satisfies and neutralizes their rational minds. The process clears away intellectualism and leaves the true Tao, which is not subject to words or images.
Daily Tao / 62 – Interpretation : part 1
All that we experience is subjective.
There is no sensation without interpretation.
We create the world and ourselves;
Only when we stop do we see the truth.
The world exists, but we cannot truly be one with it in our normal modes of consciousness. Our minds know the world by constructing conclusions from the data of our senses. All that we know is filtered and interpreted.
Therefore, there is no such thing as objectivity or direct knowledge of the world. Everything is relative because we are each condemned to our particular vantage points. As long as we all have different perspectives, as long as perception relies on our senses, then there cannot be an absolute truth. All knowledge from experience, valuable as it may be, is imperfect and merely provisional.
Inner truth is only glimpsed by disconnecting the mechanism of interpretation. If we can withdraw the activities of the senses and isolate that part of the mind responsible for filtering sensory input, then we can temporarily shut off the ongoing process of interaction with the outside world. We will then be in a neutral place that is wholly turned inward. We are left with an absolute state, entirely without distinction or relativity. This is called nothingness, and it is the truth underlying all things.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 3/02/2014: 2,085 steps and 0.9 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 61 – Sorrow
Rain scatters plum petals;
Weeping stains the earth.
One can only take shelter
And wait for clearing.
When sorrow comes, its bitterness soaks everything. The sages say that life is illusion, but does that change its poignancy? Let us be sad; it is feeling that makes us human. If we gain enlightenment, understanding all life to be a dream, sadness and happiness will fall away soon enough.
The greatest sorrow of life is witnessing. Experiencing our own sufferings is not as difficult as watching others held in fate’s mighty grip. Bearing our own problems is easier because we are always aware that we can exercise other options — up to the final one. However, it hurts the most when we can do nothing for others. The greatest sorrow is to see those we love suffer helplessly.
When faced with a sad situation, it is best not to languish in it. We can change things by being with different people, moving to other places, or, if all else fails, adjusting our own attitudes to take the initiative. Sadness is transitory, like everything else. If we want to deflect it, we need only alter its context and allow it to be subsumed back into Tao.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 3/01/2014: 5,900 steps and 2.6 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
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Daily Tao / 60 – Celibacy
In winter, animals do not mate.
Preserve your Tao
By preserving your essence.
We follow the Tao of the universe with great effort, but Tao is within us too. It is not something abstract, not something conceptual. Our personal Tao is our very life force. This energy begins with the physical and extends into the spiritual.
The source of this energy is partly chemical : our hormones, nutrition from food, and genetics. Whatever we have that is spiritual arises from these substances. Followers of Tao call this the essence. Preservation of this essence through sexual conservation is crucial. This doesn’t mean suppression of sexuality, for the impulse to make love is natural and irrepressible; it means to harmonize sexuality with spirituality.
The follower of Tao makes love according to the seasons. In winter, it should be less or not at all; in spring, it may be at its most frequent. The young should restrict themselves to about once every three days, while the middle-aged should reduce it once a week, and the elderly even less than that. The secret is not to indulge too much, without killing one’s sexuality altogether. Overindulgence is to waste one’s resources. Suppression kills the body on its most basic level. Find the proper balance, and you will have a happy life and full spirituality.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 2/28/2014: 1,988 steps and 0.9 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
