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Taoist Problem Solving

ToV 22 – Paradoxical Dating

This chapter opens with a series of lines under what I’d call the category of: f*ing let it go.

If you want to become straight,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.

And a goodly handful of phrases like that, every one of them a mantra of: stop arguing with reality stop arguing with reality. I love the second part of these lines: let yourself…. If you want something, and here’s the paradoxical part, you have to let go and let yourself be the thing you fear first. It isn’t the pursuit of the thing that gets you what you need, it’s in the letting go of whatever you’re fighting against.

The very last line of this chapter hit me hard, and was what I took with me into my mediation this morning.Read More »ToV 22 – Paradoxical Dating

ToV 15 – Mud Settles and email Clears

I’ve spent a lot of the last 14 chapters trying to explain how Taoism isn’t some lay down in the dirt, do nothing, don’t try sort of principle, but a passiveness with an innate, more natural drive – wei wu wei, action arising from stillness. It’s hard to find the words to articulate it, which is why when I came to this stanza in chapter 15, I was inwardly shouting YES and pointing emphatically.

Do you have the patience to wait
til your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
til the right action arises by itself?

So, there ya go! It isn’t about doing nothing, it’s about doing nothing until it’s time to do the right thing. In Taoist circles, we joke about Taoist Problem Solving i.e. do nothing and see if the problem resolves itself. This strategy often makes other people nuts when they’re thinking: there’s a problem ohmyGod do SOMETHING! More often than not, when the mud settles, turns out things aren’t such a problem after all. At the very least, you get a clearer idea of what actually still needs to be done.

I was talking to a friend the other day, she’d inadvertently stumbled upon this sort of problem solving simply by being too busy and flooded with emails. Read More »ToV 15 – Mud Settles and email Clears

Day 41 – an idle mind is the monkey’s playground

I’m sure the posts of the last week or so have been much less interesting for all of you to read, being mostly devoid of angst and introspection. These days I’m more inclined to write love songs to sitting meditation and time with trees (if I could ever GET any! – make that longings for time with trees). Fact is, I’ve been busy, and busy in inspiring and exciting ways – as opposed to being stretched thin and run ragged, that can’t be good for your soul at all!Read More »Day 41 – an idle mind is the monkey’s playground