Number Fifty Five Like a child

55
safe in her arms
the infant fears nothing
that is our birthright

Lesson # 55

To be fully awake
is to be like a young child.
The young child does not threaten the wasp
and so is not stung. The young child
does not strike out in fear and so is
not bitten by the snake. Children
cry, they laugh, they sing, naturally.
The sage can cry, laugh and sing also,
because they are
in harmony with all things.
They are free
to dance or to mourn because they are
no longer ruled by internalized
“Grown-up”
rationalizations or prohibitions.
.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching


Number 55 Newborn

It is said that a wise person
is like a newborn
Living according to your true nature
and you can appear like that
You do not have anxiety about things
that are not immediately threatening you
The newborn
does not fear the wasps snakes tigers or vultures
that they have never seen
Your grip on your commitment to seeing the truth
in you and around you
is as strong as a baby’s grip of their mother’s finger
Your sense of power is not contingent
on the approval of your sexual romantic or intimate partner
any more than a newborn questions the motivation of their parents.
You work effortlessly without exhaustion
like an infant does their work crying for hours but never getting hoarse
It is your constancy that open your eyes to the truth of things

You do just enough to be in the world but not of it
and your inner quest has your deepest focus
Your body may age and decay
but your presence and awareness does not fade


NUMBER FIFTY FIVE

He who has his foundation in Teh is like a little child.
Poisonous insects do not sting him,
Wild beasts do not seize him,
Birds of prey do not strike at him.
His bones are weak, his muscles soft, Yet he can take hold firmly.
He is ignorant of sex, but is full of vitality.
He will grow to maturity.
All day long he shouts and sings.
He will arrive at a knowledge of harmony.
The knowledge of harmony is called eternal.
The knowledge of eternal things is called clear vision.
Increase of life does not always bring happiness.
The life-force that gives birth to human emotion is strong.
Human emotion comes to full power and then grows old.
It is not Tao.
If it is not Tao, it will quickly perish.

Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.


Number 55 (commentary) What did Jesus mean when he said, “Unless you change and become like children you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Most of us have an underlying conversation going on (often below the surface of our awareness) about potential dangers that might be right around the bend.
Young children (except the ones who have been traumatized very early) don’t worry. They can’t wait to see what is around the bend. They haven’t experienced enough real and imaginary dangers to fear life.
The very wise person learns to turn the volume down on their dread. They know that the only thing that is real is what is right in front of them.
A newborn child can wholeheartedly embrace the ones they love, just like the wise person wholeheartedly embraces this precious, fleeting moment of Creation.
A newborn child takes everything in without a filter. They have never experienced heartbreak, separation and loss and so do not fear to love.
A wise person knows that every love ends in separation or death. The grief and loss that follows is a bittersweet price they are very willing to pay for the love that was there and is there, even after the beloved is gone.
Their heart does not close in the face of loss because they know that sometimes the heart has to break to open even wider.

Tangent and Tool #55, Love it all A question and a reflection: “How can I love everything?” Children are the best love teachers. They love with their full bodies, unconditional. They are not caring whether it is a butterfly, chocolate ice cream, or Mommy. And each of these wonders calls forth their whole being to respond. They don’t say, “I can’t love this piece of candy because then I won’t have enough love left for Daddy.” They know that love is infinite, and they yearn to feel as much of it as their tiny bodies can endure. As adults, we hoard love. We stake it out with rules and restrictions. We tie it down with conditions, requirements and specifications. And then we wonder why our love starves.
There is a simple antidote to all this torture of Love. Discover your soul child, who can love everything. Love the pain in your knee as you stand for a while. That pain belongs to a body which serves you diligently for all of the approximately 28,262 days of your life. Love the cloud that just covered the Sun. Amazing the thin layer of water vapor that gives nourishing rain to all life on Earth. Love every shade of emotion that colors your soul. Each emotion has a lesson to teach us. Love the next breath you take. It is not your last breath, and it is precious just because of that. Any erotic, romantic love will be but a flash of lightning in our lives. But the love of everything will stay by our side for every breath we take.