(sorta – it has that “vintage” vibe going on)
David Ian – Jingle Bells
Daily Tao / 354 – Manure
Manure makes excellent fertilizer.
Life has ordure.
When you water your plants, you sometimes have to feed them. Manure is an excellent way to feed plants.
Isn’t that funny? Something that is so repellent when stuck to your shoe is so important to sustaining life.
In the fields, everything is saved. Night soil helps things grow. We grow vegetables, eat vegetables, excrete vegetables, and give the waste back to the soil so that vegetables can grow again. Truly, it is said : Everything is only borrowed.
The same is true of the misfortune, failures, and disappointments of life. If we understand the importance of manure, we understand that nothing is truly wasted. Everything can be useful if correctly applied. Therefore, even the bad things in life may become fertilizer that will help us grow and become strong.
Daily Tao / 353 – Promises
Visions better than drugs haven’t come.
Intelligence exceeding genius hasn’t come.
Titanic strength hasn’t come.
Beauty to attract lovers hasn’t come.
Visitations from gods haven’t come.
Freedom from weariness hasn’t come.
An end to vexing annoyances hasn’t come.
Great wealth hasn’t come.
Fame hasn’t come.
Unlimited understanding of others hasn’t come.
Supernatural powers haven’t come.
The skill to spontaneously heal hasn’t come.
The gift of prophecy hasn’t come.
None of these things have come,
Yet I would not forsake this spiritual path.
All sorts of things are promised to you as a seeker of spirituality. Yet when these things don’t come, does that mean that you should forsake your path? Spirituality is not a transaction with the universe. It is an endeavor that we take up because it is our ultimate mode of being. If we get nothing for it, we should not be bothered. Who cares about powers? They only lead to temptation. Those who follow Tao should care only for inner understanding.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 12/18/2013: 3,643 steps and 1.6 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 352 – Template
Must you see nature as a machine?
Is your only learning chemistry, physics, and ontology?
What if poetry was your template for life?
Can’t you know Tao by the feeling of mud in your sandals?
Thus are the sages called silly:
They have given up their prejudices.
The world appears as you perceive it. It is not that your perceptions are wholly shaped by a so-called objective world. The habit of interpretation is interactive; we do things to test our hypotheses until we have created a complicated web of sensory input and centrifugal manipulation. By the time we are “mature,” we have created innumerable layers of interpretation and biased perception that become our templates for living. Of course, we could have some fun with this situation. We could change the templates that we use to interact with the world.
What if we used poetry instead of science? What if we substituted spirituality for politics? The results of such experimentation are often fresh, happy, and unusual. Unfortunately, when carried to their logical conclusions, they are just as futile as any other method. Templates are essential for beginners, a hindrance for veterans. True followers of Tao give up all templates and are without prejudices. They return to the actions of infants. Thus they are called silly. But because they view the world with their inner eye, they transcend all the sorrows of life.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 12/17/2013: 4,788 steps and 2.1 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 351- Breath
You breathe,
Frosting mountains white,
Exciting trees to verdant flame,
Dancing sparrows on your wing,
Swirling waves into long sighs.
You breathe,
And all things live.
A central concept for Tao is breath. Without breath, there is no life. The complexity of this idea is great indeed. You breathe; that brings you oxygen. You breathe; that sustains you. You breathe; that regulates your heartbeat, feeds your brain, makes your blood red. Deeper still : You breathe, and the entire energy field of your body is sustained and set into motion. When that field, so intimately tied to breathing, is integrated with your mind, you have the power of spirituality. Breath. Don’t crassly think of it as mere gas.
Just as we breathe, so too does the universe breathe. In fact, we can think of the entire medium of life as breath. When the world breathes, all things are sustained. Weather moves as it should. Plants grow as they should. Animals are made strong. The very forces of geology are set into motion. And together, a mighty field of energy is generated, a much larger version of what happens in your own body. Connected to that field is a universal mind.
Do you want to know how spirituality works? Breathe.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 12/16/2013: 5,210 steps and 2.3 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 350 – Hourglass
Life is like an hourglass.
Consciousness is the sand.
Imagine an hourglass.
Its shape is like the symbol for infinity. Its form recalls the double helix of DNA. Its two sections represent polarity. The material on one side, the immaterial on the other. The male on one side, and the female on the other. Hot and cold, positive and negative, or any other duality.
The sand runs in a stream, the same stream as the course of energy that runs up your spine, the same stream that is the road of life.
The movement of that sand is what we call Tao. Our consciousness alternates between the various states represented by the hourglass. It is as difficult to grasp as a stream of sand. Therefore, it is foolish to examine things minutely. It is unwise to focus on the material. It is wisdom to understand the movement.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 12/15/2013: 5,289 steps and 2.3 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
my mostly unfabulous life 