Number Seven Service

7

the open mouth
of the fledgling sparrow
nothing satisfies me

Lesson #7

Our universe
is constantly giving itself away
to itself.
Effortlessly.
Like the Tao,
we are born to serve.

From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching

Number Seven: Service

Heaven endures
Earth abides
Why are they everlasting
Because they serve selflessly

So too the wise one serves
for the love of service and not just for personal gain
They do not seek fame and so others look to them
They do not fight for survival
and so find abundance everywhere

By taking action
just for the love of it
they find fulfillment


NUMBER SEVEN

Heaven and Earth can endure long.
If Heaven and Earth endure long,
It is because they do not live for self,
Therefore they can long endure.
That is why the self-controlled man puts himself last,
Yet he is found in the foremost place.
He regards his body as outside of himself,
Yet his body is preserved.
Is it not that his chief interest is in the Inner Life?
Therefore he can perfect his chief interest.

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

Number Seven (commentary) What is the secret to a long and happy life?

Time and again, Lao Tsu asks us to look to nature.
The Sky has been there all our lives and the sun shines on the good and the evil alike.
Gravity, there since the beginning, holds us all to the earth, equally. It hugs the billionaire, the pure of heart, the sadist and the hopeless wreck alike.
From that awareness, the wise person learns that service for the love of service leads to the greatest happiness.
Rather than judging, fighting to win, or grasping at fame, the wise person acts simply and out of love and lives a rich and peaceful life.

Tangent and Tool #7, Focused service: (Reflective exercise) Bob Dylan sang, “Well, it may be the Devil, or it may be the Lord, but you’re gonna’ have to serve somebody.” The human instinctual nervous system is hard-wired to serve. This was the one strategy that allowed us to become the predominant species on this planet. By working together in large groups no other animal could overcome us. That was the blessing and the curse.