Number Thirty Seven Fixing
37
my daughter’s asleep
the neighbor’s dog stops barking
I don’t need to breathe
Lesson # 37
How will we save our world?
Greed breeds more greed,
violence breeds more violence.
To accept the way of the Tao
is to stop fighting.
To accept the way of the Tao
is to stop grasping.
If our leaders, and if each one of us,
could begin to still our fears
and desires,
and calmly look within,
we could find
a path towards peace.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 37 Fixing
Somehow
the universe will unfold without your help
It doesn’t have a project management worksheet
and yet
the stars keep spinning in perfect alignment
Either pretend that you can fix the world
or just let things naturally evolve
If only the powerbrokers in this world
could dare to relax and trust
in the unfolding of this universe
they could do some good and create much less suffering
But they want to grab the reins
and point circumstances towards their goals at any cost
Wouldn’t it be great
if that deep universal heart which connects us to everything
could calm them and remind them of what is truly important
not profits, but serenity, tranquility, compassion and peace
NUMBER THIRTY SEVEN
The activity of Everlasting Tao is in the Inner Kingdom,
It does not act except through the innermost.
If prince and people can maintain it together,
All beings will be transformed from within themselves;
Being transformed, they again desire action.
We must learn to still desire
To obtain in the Inner Life Purity of the Name.
Purity of the Name in the Inner Life
Brings absence of desire;
Absence of desire brings stillness;
Thus shall the world be perfected from within itself.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 37 (commentary) How can we stop bad things from happening?
We listen, watch and read the news every day and feel that we must do something!
But there is no time. Work, family, Tik-Tok and YouTube get in the way and all you are left with is free-floating fear and anxiety.
Or you find that time and you try really hard to implement some changes and often fail.
Meanwhile, above and around you the amazing universe is spinning, unfolding, evolving.
If only world leaders could be in touch with that eternal part of themselves, the part that is connected with everything, everywhere, always. Then, when they felt the urge to fix, control, manipulate, or subjugate, they would, instead, remember their true center and open their compassionate heart.
Tangent and Tool #37, Pinball A question and a reflection: “How can I make the leaders of this world understand?” When I was a kid there were pinball machines. Now all we have is a pinball app on our cellphone. But, back in the ancient past, you pulled a spring-loaded plunger and shot a steel ball into a maze of bumpers and obstacles, while hitting the flippers to knock the ball back up into the maze. Eventually the ball rolled past your flippers and down the bottom hole and you lost. This is an apt metaphor for today’s world. We are that round shiny ball, only there is no bottom hole. We just keep getting flipped back up into the playfield where there are incessant bells ringing, lights flashing and we keep hitting one obstacle, bumper, ramp or wall after another, without rest.
How can we expect politicians to open their compassionate hearts when we can’t? We must start with that person in the mirror. I don’t know if you will ever be able to change anything in this world unless you start with finding your own deep center. Will that change anyone else? I don’t know. But it can save the only life you can save, your own.