and Happy Hanukkah
Daily Tao / 332 – Dovetail
“Measure twice, cut once,” said the old craftsman.
Only careful planning and patient skill make a dovetail.
Early cabinetmakers were faced with the problem of joining two pieces of wood together at a right angle so that they would bear the stress not only of use but of the weather as well. Especially in places where the summers are hot and humid and the winters are dry and cold, a plank of wood might change its dimensions by a quarter- to a half-inch. Quite enough to make joints fall apart and drawers stick!
The dovetail joint holds because the two interlocked pieces of wood expand and contract at the same rate. The direction of the pull is against the locking of the joint. The byproduct of all this fine craft is a joint so precisely fitted that it is a thing of beauty in and of itself.
Cutting a dovetail joint is a demanding skill. The lines must be laid out with great care, and the cutting must be carefully done using a thin saw. The waste must be slowly trimmed away with a sharp chisel until both sides mate tightly. The making of a dovetail joint requires planning, skill, and patience.
Nowadays, cheap synthetic materials do not breathe with the seasons. That might reduce inconvenience, but it has also reduced the chance for another relationship to Tao. For when the cabinetmakers sought to build furniture that was compatible with the wood, the seasons, and their own ingenuity, they were perfectly in tune with Tao.
Daily Tao / 331 – Sieve
A coarse sieve catches little.
A fine mesh catches more.
If you want the subtle, be refined,
But prepare to deal with the coarse.
The irony of spiritual living is that you become more sensitive and more subtle. Therefore, you become intolerant of the coarse. There is not much choice in this. If you want to catch the subtle things in life, then you must become refined yourself. But the coarser things will then accumulate all the more quickly. A coarse sieve in a rushing stream will hold back only debris and large rocks. A fine mesh will catch smaller things, but it will also retain the large.
Some people attempt to cope with this by becoming multilayered. They set up a series of screens to their personalities, from the coarse to the subtle so that they can deal with all that life has to offer. This is quite laudable from an ordinary point of view, but from the point of view of Tao, it is a great deal of bother.
What do we do? If we remain coarse, then only the coarse comes to us. If we become subtle, then we gain the refined but are plagued with the coarse as well. If we become multilayered, then we create a complexity that isolates us from Tao.
The solution lies in floating on the current of Tao, uniting with it. That way we no longer seek to hold or to reject.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 11/26/2013: 4,734 steps and 2.1 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 330 – Sense
Don’t be destroyed by knowledge and power.
Use common sense to survive.
There were once four learned and accomplished men. One day they said to themselves, “Of what use is all our learning if we do not seek the employment of a great king?” Accordingly, they set out for the capital.
Now among these four, three were particularly brilliant. The fourth was far inferior to the others in intellect, but he was the one with the most sense.
On the road, they came upon the skeleton of a lion. “Let us bring this lion back to life,” proposed the first. “Yes, this will bring us great fame,” agreed the second and third. The fourth one said, “If you bring this lion back to life, he will attack and devour you.”
“Don’t interrupt!” cried the first, who already used his superior knowledge to put flesh on the bones. The second quickly introduced blood, and the third was about to breathe life into the lion.
“We should think of safety,” said the fourth.
“Quiet!” said the third from the depths of his labor.
“Well, then, I shall go sit in this tree,” said the fourth. “Just in case.”
The lion came back to life and killed the wise men. The only one who survived was the man with common sense.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 11/25/2013: 8,077 steps and 3.5 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 329 – Umbilicus
People consider the navel a vestigial nub
And think nourishment only comes through the mouth.
Not so. Tao is the great mother,
And vitality untold lies in the region of the umbilicus.
The old books call Tao the great mother. Tao provides for us as a mother would. It shelters us, nourishes us, makes our life possible. We are literally tied to the vitality of Tao.
Lying dormant inside us are point of concentration. Most people are unaware that concentration on these points will yield specific forces, cure ailments, alter consciousness, and still the mind. Like a treasure buried in the ruins of a sacred place, these spots only await discovery before they give their owner wondrous powers.
One such spot is in the area of the navel. When you concentrate there, you will find that great vitality comes your way. It will be as if you are still connected to your mother through the umbilicus, and power and tremendous physical well-being will come your way.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 11/24/2013: 1,321 steps and 0.6 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
Daily Tao / 328 – Presence
Lightning rod at the pinnacle
Attracts power by its mere presence.
In the same way, we must work
For substance and height.
If we want communion with heavenly powers, we need only attain the proper spiritual height. Then heaven will come to meet us as surely as lightning is attracted to a lightning rod. The effort is only in the becoming, in the purification of our characters, in the reaching upward. Once the situation is correct, union is inevitable.
Some people say, “Who cares about heaven?” Some people say, “Why strain for refinement?” Of course, no one is required to make an effort in life. We can all go the easy way. But then we are still lightning rods. Only the forces we attract are not the powers of heaven, but the powers of demons, misfortune, and predators.
No, there is no true reason why anyone should want to purify for spiritual reasons. The fact is, no matter what kind of person you are, you will attract something to yourself. One of the major ways to control what comes to you is to refine your substance.
Daily Fitbit stats
My fitbit #Fitstats for 11/23/2013: 5,118 steps and 2.2 miles traveled. http://www.fitbit.com/user/28KDGG
my mostly unfabulous life 