Number Thirty Six The Cycle
36
the banana slug
slides across decaying bark
of the once mighty oak
Lesson # 36
If you only inhale
and hold that breath in,
you cannot breathe.
You must release that air.
Try to stay strong all the time
and you will collapse.
You must take time to relax.
The greatest gift is to give away
that which you most dearly cling to
and let it go
to someone else who needs it.
This is the nature of things:
Let go.
The soft and the weak shall overcome
the hard and the strong.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 36 The cycle
To every thing there is a season. (Ecclesiastes 3:1)
In one moment
everything seems to be depleting you
In another moment
nothing can hold you back.
In one moment your whole life feels like one big failure
In another moment you are relishing victory
In one moment it looks like the economy is collapsing
In another moment things are booming.
There is a time to give and there is a time to receive.
This is called the Perception of the Cycle of Life and Death
The soft and the supple overcome the rigid and the hard
So be mindful of what you want to parade in public
Fish rising to the surface are the ones that get caught
The countries that are showing off their weapons
are trapped in their own hubris
and are exposing their defensive weaknesses
NUMBER THIRTY SIX
If you desire to breathe deeply, you must first empty the lungs.
If you desire to be strong, you must first learn to be weak.
If you desire to be in a lofty position, you must first learn to take a lowly position.
If you desire to be enriched by gifts, you must first give away all that you have.
This is called concealment and enlightenment.
The soft overcomes the hard.
The weak overcomes the strong.
Fish cannot swim safely in shallow waters.
The secrets of government of a kingdom should not be revealed to the people.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 36 (commentary) What’s wrong with going for the gold?
“Victory belongs to the most persevering!” Napolean Bonaparte
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.” Thomas Edison
“The path to success is to take massive, determined action!” Tony Robbins
It behooves the wealthy power brokers of the world to sell and extoll the virtue of hard work, the virtue of dogged perseverance and the virtue of stick-to-it-tiveness in the minds of the workers who provide wealth to the rich. Endless self-help books, Ted Talks, and life Coaches are there to support workers in their efforts to create goods and services that eventually will funnel money to the top income echelon. Everybody wins, right?
In contrast, Buddha uncomfortably reminds us that no one wins, that Old Age, Sickness and Death are inescapable and inevitable.
Lao Tsu adds that everything always changes. The harder you hold on to what you have, the more you fight for it and the harder you try to control change, the more you and everyone else suffer.
Tangent and Tool #36, The Spiritual Art of Advocacy A question and a reflection: “Why fight when I know I’ll lose?” There is a difference between resignation and acceptance. Resignation to the inevitability that you will not fix the world or escape the reality of old age, sickness and death has the flavor of a sad, submissive surrender to circumstances beyond your control. Acceptance of the inevitability that you will not fix the world and escape the reality of old age, sickness and death has a flavor of embracing these truths without judgement, rancor, protest, or paralysis.
The spiritual art of advocacy asks us to take action in the world in alignment with our core values and at the same time, constantly work not to attach our self-worth to the outcomes of those actions. It calls us to hold everyone, including our adversaries, as beings of inherent worth and dignity. It reminds us to care for ourselves, so that we can bring our caring, compassion, kindness, passion and truth to the world. And it requires ever increasing levels of mindfulness to support our growth as leaders and as human beings.