The Tao Te Ching
Feb 22nd, 2008 by spaceagesage
As a seeker of wisdom, I have found all those pearls of insight come in a variety of ways.
Some insights are sneaky.
These crafty ones like to slip up behind you and whack you on the head with a burst of sudden understanding. Waylaid by wisdom, you might say. You didn’t want it, didn’t really know it existed, but BOOM! there it is.
Most transforming insights, though, take years to fully awaken, like sleeper spies.
These long-term stealth ones offer a bit of themselves, and you think, “Aha!”, but then life gets busy and you forget why it was so amazing. This continues for years, but life experiences make each jack-in-the-box-Aha! moment more meaningful. Finally there comes a point where you just get it, and it feels like it has been there all along.
Such is the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching.
The Tao Te Ching is a classic Chinese writing, which according to tradition was written around 6th century BC by the great teacher and sage Lao Tzu.
He is revered by many for his wisdom, but what is amazing is he put his understanding of The Nature of Things into just 81 brief chapters. Some of the chapters are just few lines long.
(The man was not long-winded — ya gotta love that!)
Four lines of his work have been “talking to me” recently on this journey to better mental health:
Blunt the sharpness,
Untangle the knot,
Soften the glare,
Merge with dust.
Kind of cryptic, eh? My translation goes like this:
“Blunt the sharpness” for me is about chucking out any shrill, harsh, or strident ways of speaking or being and replacing them with quieter, calmer, more loving ways.
“Untangle the knot” for me is a visualization tool I have used for a long time to imagine my muscles relaxing. Even as I write this and think about the phrase, my shoulders drop into a more restful position.
“Soften the glare” for me represents the desire to understand grace, mercy, and non-judgment and to free myself of the “shoulds, musts, and you gottas.”
“Merge with dust” for me is about humility — learning to let go of the neediness to be right all the time and settle down inside with inner peace. I also translate “dust” as “soil” in my mind because much can grow from such a seemingly lowly element.
When I find myself getting stressed, I think of these lines. Some days I think of them many times a day. Insights are great, but application of them is a process!
Very nice post. I agree completely. I have recentlybeen disturbed by the “sharpness”, “glares” and “knots” so many members of the blogger world have gotten entangled in. It is refreshing to read a post such as this and focus on the softer side of wisdom.
Thanks for stopping by and for appreciating the focus!
I agree, great post. 🙂
Will welcome each of them.