Thirty Nine The Good Old Days
39
the world’s greatest runner
downed by a pebble
in his shoe
Lesson # 39
Nothing divides us.
Above the clear sky
and it is our clearness.
Below the steady earth
and it is our steadiness.
Within the flame of life
that animates everything around us,
and it is our flame.
The fertileness of the world
is our fertileness.
It is the simplest rule:
Treat others
as you would be treated,
because you are them,
and they are you.
From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching
Number 39 The good old days
We imagine a Golden Age
The air was pure
The earth was our solid foundation
Our spirit was strong calm and focused
The land was fertile and radiant with life
Living things lived in ecological health
And we could trust the ones who govern us
Today that balance is lost
The sky is polluted
Climate change has turned dangerous
The earth is contaminated with chemicals and radiation
Our spirit is broken and the social fabric rent apart with division
Agriculture for profit is eliminated necessary ecological diversity
Entire species become extinct on a daily basis
And no one trusts their government
The solution lies in a return to simplicity and openness
Our leaders can no longer rule while being cut off from the needs of
the Earth the Sky the Land the Plants the Animals the Ecology and the People
that they govern
They must rule from oneness, not from the lust for more power
They must let themselves feel the suffering
of the orphaned, the widowed, the helpless
And they must seek to serve the everything
From 81 Lessons From the Tao Te Ching
NUMBER THIRTY NINE
These are they which from of Old have obtained Unity.
Heaven obtained Unity by purity; The earth obtained Unity by repose;
Spiritual beings obtained Unity by lack of bodily form;
The valleys obtained Unity by fulness; All beings obtained Unity by life;
Princes and people obtained Unity by being under the rule of Heaven.
These all obtained permanence by Unity.
The innermost of Heaven is purity, if not so, it would be obscured;
The innermost of Earth is repose, it not so, it would disintegrate;
The innermost of spiritual beings is lack of bodily form, if not so, they would die;
The innermost of valleys is fulness of water, if not so, they would be sterile;
The innermost of creatures is life, if not so, they would perish.
The high honour of prince and people is in their being together under the rule of Inner Life, if not so, they would soon lose harmony,
The root of honour is in humility,
The standpoint of high estate is in lowliness.
That is why prince and people call themselves orphans, solitary men, chariots without wheels.
The active principle of their Unity is in lowliness. Who can deny this?
If you take a chariot to pieces, you have no chariot (it has lost its Unity).
Do not desire to be isolated as a single gem, nor to be lost in a crowd as pebbles on the beach.
Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.
Number 39 (Commentary) How can we get free from our addiction to greed, power and dominance?
We have to grow up. We have a long way to go.
There is a fairly small segment of humanity that is only concerned with their own happiness, wealth, security, safety, peace of mind. They get what they want no matter what it costs to others. Winning is everything. Psychopaths and extreme narcissists are in that group.
There is a larger segment of humanity who wants to fit in, be accepted and make it work. They acknowledge the needs of others. They compete and seek to succeed, but they do not want to win at the cost of other’s suffering, if they can help it. And they don’t want to sacrifice too much of their own pleasure or comfort to help the greater good.
Then there is a small segment of humanity who are not afraid to embrace the human condition, who have a very large context for understanding the suffering that is an integral part of the human condition and who consistently act with a compassionate heart.
We all need to do whatever it takes to drag ourselves one step higher on the ladder of maturity.
Tangent and Tool #39, Eat money A question and a reflection: “How will we ever change?” Here is a quote attributed to Alanes Obomsawin, a First Nation man who lived in Canada. He was talking about the White Man, but his words apply to the privileged and to power-brokers world-wide, “Your people are driven by a terrible sense of deficiency. . . When the last tree is cut, the last fish is caught and the last river polluted, when to breathe the air is sickening, you will realize, too late, that wealth is not in bank account and that you cannot eat money.” Lao Tsu details the openness, receptivity, equanimity and compassion necessary to lead us out of this mess we are in. I fear that, in the larger context of nation states, this change in leadership style will only emerge after many global tragedies. However, on a very local level it can start with how you comport yourself today.