Number Twenty Eight Embrace It All
28
anyone can be a spoon
carved from a chunk of wood
be the uncarved block
Lesson # 28
Dance the feminine
and the masculine dance
to your own music.
Embrace the light and the darkness
without guilt or judgement.
Watch fame rise and fall,
watch failure rise and fall,
and stay unscarred by either.
Stay as simple as a block of wood,
available to be carved as needed.
And walk through life
without harming others.
This is the way.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 28 Embrace it all
Embrace
both your masculine and feminine aspects
the creative-receptive flow in and around you
Become both the river
and the riverbed
Let go of grasping on to anything to hold it in stasis
and you play like a child at the game of life
Embrace both the light and the dark within you
shining at times and forgiving yourself when you falter
seeking to discover more about your true nature
and inspiring others while not seeking to inspire
Embrace both victory and defeat
looking below the reactive mask you wear
to that deep still valley within
The path of utility is to be busy carving the whole
into many useful objects to achieve its ends
The path of wisdom finds a way
to let the whole achieve its ends unscarred
NUMBER TWENTY EIGHT
To know manly strength, to guard womanly gentleness,
Is to be the central channel of the kingdom.
To be the central channel of the kingdom, always manifesting life,
never guilty, is to return to the innocence of childhood.
To know light, to guard the darkness,
Is to be the model of the kingdom.
To be the model of the kingdom, always manifesting life,
never at fault, is to return to the bounds of the Inner Kingdom.
To know glory, to guard humility,
Is to be the valley of the kingdom.
To be the valley of the kingdom, always manifesting life becoming perfect, is to return to a condition like undressed wood.
Undressed wood, being made into many utensils,
The self-controlled man uses them,
Then he becomes Ruler for a long time,
Thus he achieves greatness without hurt to anyone
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 28 (commentary) Knowing all that we know, how can we go on?
Finding spiritual balance is not an act of carefully measuring quantities to either side of the weighing pans on the scale of life, until all is balanced and equal.
Rather, it is like surfing, the constant, making ongoing skillful adjustment to ever-changing conditions.
We adjust to everything. We surf life, around and within us. We do it for the fun and challenge of it, not to impress anyone with how spiritual we are appearing and not to fix anything.
When the big waves of life wipe us out, when we fail and flounder and hurt the ones we love, we just get back on the board. A little battered and bruised, we swim back out and get ready for the next ride.
The Tao does not want us to be good.
It just wants us to be fully present, in this moment, to this wave.
Tangent and Tool #28, “This, too.”: (Reflective exercise) “This, too.” is an excellent corrective mantra to use for yourself (Don’t use it too many times with others or perhaps they will slug you). It can be a way to remind yourself that everything is just another presentation of time to your awareness. Whether it is embracing the love of your life, or being unable to pay your bills, it is just another presentation of time. Whether it is accepting the Nobel Peace Prize or stepping backwards into an open sewer, it is just another moment in the movie of your life. Enjoy the good ones, but do not fabricate conspiracy theories about the bad ones. Neither Nature, nor God, nor any secret governmental agency is out to get you.
Life just is. Whatever is presented to you by time and by the unfolding of the universe, say to yourself, “Oh, that’s right. This too.” Stop believing that misfortune is sent to you from above to teach you faithfulness or make you a stronger person. No god could be that cruel and ruthless. In the face of misfortune, what are you to do? Well, you can either see yourself as a victim of relentless fate, or you can embrace it all. Yes, grieve, hurt, suffer to the depths with your loss. And, all the while, also know that all life contains suffering. And, with a broken heart, say, “Oh yeah. This too.” That way your pain connects you with creation, instead of cutting yourself off from it.