Number Sixty Our Shadow
60
in frying a trout
the art is knowing when
to take it off the fire
Lesson # 60
Ruling a big enterprise
is like frying a little fish,
go easy or it will char.
Go easy when you face
the unskillful actions of others.
And go easy when you face
your own cruel, merciless,
judgement and condemnation of
your own unskillful actions.
Do not harm others,
and do not harm yourself.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 60 Our shadow
Ruling a big enterprise
is like frying a little fish
Go easy or it will char
If you have a strong foundation in the Tao
you can be safe from
the ghosts of your past mistakes and of your future fears
The greatest ghost we must face
is our own shadow the unacknowledged darkness within us
It prowls around below our conscious awareness
merciless hateful lustful chaotic and wild
We fear its power over us and so cramp down
denying repressing denouncing it
pushing it away from our cherished self-image
But to understand the Tao requires
that we see the Tao in these dark bits of ourselves
When faced directly and felt deeply
this encounter dissolves our judgement of others
and we begin to lead with humble compassion
for our shared messy human condition
NUMBER SIXTY
Govern a Great State
As you would cook a small fish (do it gently).
When Tao is manifest in the world
Evil spirits have no power.
When evil spirits have no power
They cannot hurt men.
Evil spirits cannot hurt men.
The self-controlled man does not hurt men.
The Master also does not hurt men.
Therefore they unite in manifesting Teh.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 60 (commentary) How can we defeat the enemy?
In ancient China people feared the power of ghosts and spirits. Lao Tsu assured them that through living in accordance with the Tao, spirits could not harm them.
Today the ghosts are closer at hand.
As Pogo Possum (a cartoon character created by Walt Kelly) reminds us, “We have met the enemy, and they are us.”
When we turn our backs on those parts of our nature that we have rejected, denied, disavowed and when we try to convince the world that we are nothing but radiant goodness and wisdom, then we throw all those unbecoming parts of ourselves outside of our skin and onto another person or group of people. This is called projection.
We smear our shameful parts onto the faces of other people, strangers, family members, lovers.
We reject, persecute, hate and deny those people and the Kraken of Righteousness is released.
All hell breaks loose.
Reject nothing about yourself. The Tao is inside everything, even our most hated aspects of ourselves. You must face those parts and acknowledge their presence inside you, instead of projecting them onto folks around you. In this moment of truce and self-acceptance, real transformation can happen.
Tangent and Tool #60, The Spiritual Judge A question and a reflection: “How can I deal with so many people who don’t see that I am right?” This might be a good place to discuss and to take on our merciless, spiritual Inner Judge. There is a story of a monk in a monastery who was known as the kindest person anyone had ever met. People came from afar just to receive his compassion, understanding, gentleness and good will. One day, a novice monk was on his knees in the kitchen cleaning the floor when the Kind Monk came in to make himself something to eat. A stray dog wandered into the kitchen and the Kind Monk, thinking he was alone, kicked the dog to drive him out. This was a moment of enlightenment for the novice.
We must become disillusioned from the belief that people can attain perfection. That is not our lot as a member of the human species. The humility and rueful amusement that comes from encountering our imperfections face-to-face can bring some of our finest hours. We’re going to kick the dog, in one way or another, sooner or later. Open-hearted self-acceptance of our imperfection might just be the highest spiritual achievement we can achieve.