Further Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 24 - We Are All One

       Yes, we are all one.  That is a hard reality to know and accept as a truth of life when all about us are divisions and opposition.

     The Tao sage looks with contempt upon those who set themselves above others, boast or display arrogance.  To the Tao sage they are like tumors, useless and without merit.  They do not last, for standing on tip toes is not a posture that can be long maintained.

     Yet, my own thinking seeks to understand the arrogant, boastful and egotistical.  They are more to be pitied than held in contempt, more in need of compassion than disdain.  What person has a need to boast?  A person who is insecure within themselves, a person who has a need for other's approval or a person who needs to be seen better than everyone else because they think themselves too lowly.

     To the Tao we are all one, equally loved, equally cherished.  I can understand the mindset 2,500 years ago when the Tao Te Ching was conceived, but I believe mankind has evolved and we can all live as one: members of the human family.

Further Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 23 - "The Words of My Mouth and the Meditations of My Heart"

     The words of Nature are wind and rain so says the Tao Te Ching.  Their gusts and storms cannot be sustained and so Nature returns to calm and quietude.

     Our words reflect our thoughts and our thoughts reflect our soul's essence.  If our words are of harmony, peace is drawn to us; if they are of discord, conflict is our reality.  The impartial Tao gives us what we think about, dwell upon and feel

     Thus the Tao's wisdom mirrors the Universal Law: cause and effect...the Law of Attraction, if you will. and proves its veracity.

Further Thoughts Along the Journey - Verse 22 - The Way of the Sage

     In this most profound testament to living the Tao-centered life, Lao-Tzu sets before us plainly and simply the way of the sage.

     Upon reading it for the first time, it is beautiful and perplexing, paradoxical. Deeper study has me comparing it to my own life, proving its veracity in remembered circumstances and responses.

     Its truths become known as I contemplate my life thus far and layer upon layer of superfluous activity and futile striving falls away and the true essence of the Tao shines through - a rock upon which to build a life.

    "Yield and remain whole
      Bend and remain straight
      Be low and become filled
      Be worn out and become renewed
      Have little and receive
      Have much and be confused
      Therefore the sages hold to the one as an example for the world
      Without flaunting themselves -- and so are seen clearly
      Without presuming themselves -- and so are distinguished
      Without praising themselves -- and so have merit
      Without boasting about themselves -- and so are lasting

      Because they do not contend, the world cannot contend with them
      What the ancients called "the one who yields and remains whole"
      Were they speaking empty words?
      Sincerity becoming whole, and remaining to oneself"

This 22nd verse quoted from Tao Te Ching, Translation and Annotation by Derek Lin.