-18- When the great Tao is forgotten, benevolence and moral codes arise. When shrewdness and cleverness appear, great hypocrisy follows. When there is no harmony in the family, filial manners are developed When the country is in disorder, ministers appear as loyal servants. (Tao Te Ching Chap 18)
So this dude, Stefan Stenudd, is a prolific and fantastically knowledgable writer on Taoism and explains (here) that when Tao rules, no rules, codes, contracts, manners or appearances of protocol are required, because there is no struggle over favour, leadership, right/wrong.
It’s somewhat tough for those of us whose main achievement in life was learning the rules, the manners and the courtly ways of society…
You are being ironic, but you are heard. It’s hard to step down from a system of societal and interpersonal ‘signalling’, if that is the code you have been given for showing love, respect, deference and obedience.
What do I need to know today then? I’ve got so much to do, am running a little behind, and have both a case on today, and a talk to give in the evening… I’m a bit super-charged, under-charged, and affected by the autumnal weather. On the bright side, a green woodpecker (and latterly a robin) spent the morning hopping around the garden. And last night friends came over and we rehearsed our band music. And in the afternoon, my car got mended. And I had a successful mediation meeting.
OTBS. Yes! On The Bright Side. This little phrase gave you excellent strength and courage in much tougher days than these.
Yes, it sure did. And, OTBS, I did love being nourished by the Always-So yesterday – I guess I just need a bit of a break from this intense work to really be able to restore and retreat…
And OTBS I’m not that fly stuck buzzing in a spider’s web on the window beside me, with the spider prodding at it……..
OTBS. OTBS is an antidote to trying to leverage a rules-based system to manage difficulty. Rules, manners, efforts – they are all ‘external-seeking’ solutions. OTBS allows you to dip into the inner well and be reminded that there is a happy, positive, uplifting, nourishing, healing perspective to all you experience. All you experience. Isn’t that mind-blowing?! And, you know it to be true, don’t you?
In fact I do… But it’s been hard-won knowledge.
So treasure that hard-won knowledge! Hold it to your heart! The Tao is really a protocol which says, ‘All Is Well – and if you don’t know that deeply and simply within your mind and being, you haven’t finished looking and learning.’ So, why not start pondering that kooky concept, ‘All Is Well’, by Looking OTBS?
Ok. Thank you. OTBS will be my practice today.
Today, may I look ever on the bright side where All Is Well. May all beings find the bright side to their current travails. May those fabricating appearances of order, superiority, care, kindness, concern learn the advantages of simplicity, truth and authenticity. May we all grow stronger in our ability to embrace the all that is, confident that we are not merely dispensable to the universe, but rather, deeply loved and ever-cherished. On the bright side, on the bright side, on the bright side… May the bright side shimmer and glisten before our eyes as we adjust to its glorious light.
I am looking on the bright side (OTBS)