Daily Tao /076 – Sanctity

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Every soul is inviolable,
Any thought can be private.
The deepest goal is to
Find sanctity’s source.

The body may be ravaged and hacked to pieces, but the mind may never be invaded. It is only when we permit others to influence us that our minds may be entered. Evil may thrive on enslaving us physically, emotionally, or mentally, but it can do so only by deception. That is why we must remember the sanctity of our own souls. Our thoughts are private. As long as we are determined, evil cannot sway us. People think that others can read minds or that the gods watch our every movement. No master, no psychic, no god can enter our inner gate if we choose not to let them in.

By withdrawing into the sanctity of our souls, we can also know ourselves. This effort cannot be carried forth by others. It can only be accomplished through the self-effort of living and engaging in ongoing contemplation. Only we can enter the most sacred core of our beings and find the secrets of life.

Sanctity

Daily Tao / 075 – Breakthrough part 1

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Lake shadows color of cold,
Willow branches weep ice.
Swan rises dazzling in the sunlight.

After long self-cultivation, one’s accumulated energy reaches a threshold and then bursts out full, breathing, and vibrant. Without the careful building of momentum, this moment of release would never have been possible. With long years of preparation and experience, the freeing of the soul will not be mere dissipation but will be so strongly focused that it lifts one into a higher state of awareness. When one’s spiritual energy emerges, it feels like a swan rising from the water.

Once you have reached this level of stored energy, you will be a different person. On one hand, you may take genuine comfort in the point of attainment that you have made. On the other hand, you now see all the other possibilities that remain for you to explore.

With the emergence of great possibilities comes the need for responsibility. If you diverge from your life’s path in order to explore new vistas, remember how far you are flying, and remember to return at the proper times. Only you can decide how to arrange your life. Once you are a strong flier, you must still use wisdom to direct your flight.

Breakthrough

Daily Tao / 074 – Accumulation

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An opening in the storming sea,
Gold deposited on bones.
Once accumulation has begun,
Take care not to interfere.

There is a fable about a pious man whose father had just died. A geomancer instructed the son to bury his father at the mouth of a sea cave. The sea opened at this spot only once in a hundred years, and a family who utilized it would experience great fortune. Although he had misgivings about this unorthodox location, the son threw the casket into the waters at the indicated time.

For weeks the son doubted what he had done. He eventually went to a competing geomancer who, out of jealousy, advised the son the raise the casket. The son did so. When the coffin was brought up and opened, the man saw that a fine layer of pure gold had already been deposited on his father’s bones — a clear indication of the auspicious transformation that had begun. In regret, the son wanted to throw his father back in, but it was too late. There was no remedying what had been done.

Spiritual practice must be uninterrupted. We may be anxious because we see very little happening on a daily basis, but we must be patient until we can see what the accumulation of our effort yields. Self-cultivation means steady, gradual progress. To stop prematurely would be more disastrous than never having started at all.

Celebrate

after a week where I turned 50 and got engaged ( I love you Marck ) , I decided to celebrate with a cigar. Now my roommate ( asshole , but another story ) got me interested in cigars and told me that this was a great cigar for a novice. So I Decided to relax with with and Acid Kuba this evening… I really enjoyed it ,sweet, but flavorful … now my cigar store – Cigars on Sixth also recommended an Epernay, so I’ll try that next … this could be a new vice for me …

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Daily Tao / 073 – Affirmation

73 - Affirmation

Stand at the precipice,
That existential darkness,
And call into the void :
It will surely answer.

The precipice represents our dilemma as human beings, the sense that this existence is all too random, all too absurd. Is there order? Is there a force directing things? These are the important issues, so important that we cannot rely on scripture, but must instead explore on our own.

The followers of Tao compare the void to a valley. A valley is void, yet it is productive and positive. The emptiness of the valley permits water to accumulate for plants. It allows life-giving sunlight to flood its surface. Its openness gives comfort to people and animals alike. The void should not be frightening. Rather, it contains all possibilities. Peer into it, call out, not just with your voice, but with your whole being. If your cry is deep and sincere, an echo is sure to return. This is the affirmation of our existence, the affirmation that we are on the right path. With that encouragement, we can continue our lives and our explorations. Then the void is not frightening, but a constant companion.

Affirmation