 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Dao De Jing |
(Chuang Tzu) |
(Tao) is Open Forum |
List |
Stuff |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Home |
Dao De Jing |
(Chuang Tzu) |
(Tao) is Open Forum |
List |
Stuff |
|
|
 |
 |
|
|
Reversal: that is Dao's movement. Flexibility: that is Dao's usefulness. Every living thing in the world Lives and grows with reference to what they have; Lives and grows with reference to what has vanished.   Commentary: 40 ~ What’s Here And What’s Gone We tend to think of life as moving forward - leaving behind the past and moving into the future. That thought process may be because we've learned a sense of time based on calendars and clocks. All of our days are based on numbers: minutes, hours, days, weeks, years, etc. We also tend to think we've left behind the past in our minds as well - we "get over" one experience in order to move on to the next. However, when we look at Nature we can see that there's no sense of time in that way. A day doesn't "end", but progresses through the cycle to the next. Seasons recur like a revolving door, moving in a circular pattern.  -Reversal: that is Dao's movement. Who can say what's moving forward and what's moving backward? Einstein pointed out that the movement of an object can only be judged by its relationship to another object. Some of M. C. Escher's drawings show how objects could be seen to be moving forward and backward at the same time. How does the process of Dao reverse? It's just seen as a reversal to our time-conscious minds. We might think of the word “process” as a “procession” - something that moves forward, like the procession of a parade from start to finish. When The Laozi tells us that the process of Dao is to move in reverse, that’s a way of reminding us that Dao doesn’t follow any particular direction, but its movements go every which way. -Flexibility: that is Dao's usefulness. Have you ever experienced something emotionally upsetting then vowed you'd never let that happen to you again? What if it does happen again? Do you kick yourself for being so stupid? Being flexible means never to say "never." Instead of rigidly making pronouncements on what you'll allow to happen to you in your life and what you won't allow, it might be better to remain flexibly open to experiencing each sensation as though for the first time. After all, you're not the same person today as you were a few years ago. How is the process of Dao flexible? Not only does it move in every direction, but it doesn’t make demands on how how anyone should move - threatening punishment or promising rewards for the actions we take. -Every living thing in the world -Lives and grows with reference to what they have; -Lives and grows with reference to what has vanished. We all learn from our experiences (hopefully). You might look back on things that happened to you in childhood regretting them or delighting in them. Psychoanalysis teaches that each of us should relive those childhood experiences, work through them as adults, then discard them as so much garbage. But is there really a way to permanently discard your cultural, emotional and societal background? We don’t know why those things happened to us, but they did. We take the cards we were dealt and do what we can with them. Some people get so involved in thinking about what happened to them in the past that they can’t seem to find the tools they’ve been given to keep moving on. Reversal is the movement. Flexibility is the tool. If you can look at life as one big panorama instead of a progression of single frames or photographs, then it all blends together without past or future. What IS the "constant" is growth. Your own growth is based on seeing and accepting what you are now as well as what you were in the past. Alternate translation: Sometimes you’ve got to take a step back before you can move ahead. But if you don’t dwell on what’s happened in the past, you can be much more open to what’s happening right now. We can all enjoy and progress by appreciating where we are right now. We can all enjoy and progress by seeing what’s no longer with us, but got us to this place. Dao Is Open Site Map | BY: Nina | Guodian Laozi | DDJ Concordance | Comparisons | Who was Laozi | | Return Home | Laozi's Dao De Jing | Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) | Links | Dao (Tao) is Open Forum | Book List | Other Stuff | |
||
 |
 |