Skip to main content

Lessons from The Book of Chuang Tzu - Part 2

We are all part of something much bigger: life, and the universe. Live as part of it. Try to see the whole, not just the tiny part that is you and your immediate surrounds. Live for the whole, not the shallow, small you.

Light shines through the chaos. This is the true path. Be guided by it.

It's hard to know what is true and right and what is not. Learn to be comfortable with uncertainty and not knowing.

People simplistically say that the best succeed, and that they do so through sheer talent and hard work. But this is junk. Luck and timing play a huge part in all life. Some people have immense talent and work very hard but do not succeed. Other people have little talent and don't work particularly hard and still succeed. There is no hard and fast path to success, however one defines success.

Wise people don't judge or express partisan views about the past. They see the bigger pciture of flow and change, and human nature, chance and fate. Less wise people argue incessantly over minutiae.

Ultimately reality, everything, anything is beyonds words.

The wise are beyond concern with good or bad, life or death, as they see it all in the context of the incessant flow of eternity.

The wise reject difference and opinions, laughs off status and power for the trivia that they are.

All life is simply what it is, so everyone, good or bad, is simply doing what they've been programmed to do.

The love of life is a delusion like all other views. The question is not what is true and what is not, but what nurtures a mind and what diminishes it.

We live then we die. That's all there is to it. Living, we can experience for a while. Dead, we can't. So if you want to experience, live aware.

Only fools think that they are in control of their lives and that they really know what is going on. The flow of existence is way beyond any of us. Everything our five senses and our mind tells us is a deception, so don't trust them. Enjoy them when they are good but don't attach to them. Ignore them when they are unpleasant; and never get involved in the petty delusional arguments that people constantly start.

No one knows the truth. Allow the process of change to happen and learn to let time run its course. orget about reasons and what ifs, and rights and wrongs. Plunge into the unknown and the endless and find your place there.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Lessons from the Book of Chuang Tzu - Part 14

When knowledge and calm nurture each other, harmony and order emerge as from innate nature. The Tao is order. When someone tries to correct others it destroys everyone's innate nature. Follow the path of simplicity and silence. The people had knowledge but they did not use it; all this was perfect Oneness. Ruling by decrees and grand plans, they polluted the purity of nature and destroyed simpicity. The Tao was abaondoned and Good sutbstituted. As a result innate nature was abandoned. Heart linked with knowledge but were unable to give the world peace. Pomp and ceremony were added to this knowledge. This displaced simplicity resulting in the people being confused and disobedient. Perceiving this we can see how the world has lost the Tao. How can the world come to appreciate the Tao? Even if the wise do not retreat to the forests, their virtue is still hidden, whether they like it or not. When the times are not favourable for the wise, and it is not possible for them to do great thi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons from The Book of Chuang Tzu - Part 5

The wise person does not hold onto life, nor do they fear death. They arrive without expectation and leave without resistance. They came calmly, went calmly, and that was that. They are not interested in what becomes of them. Their kindness enriches generations yet they have no great love for people. They do what they want. They are not judgemental. Cheerfully smiling, they are content. When calm, they appear to be one with the world. Their inner nature seems unknowable. They get on well with society. They follow the natural course of events. Death and birth are fixed. They are beyond the control of humanity. This is just how things are. People praise and criticise leaders and thinkers but it would be so much better if they just follow the Tao. To have a human form is a joyful thing but in a universe full of possible forms there are others just as good. The sage rests contented with all things. They take pleasure in early death, old age, in the origin and in the end, and sees them all ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lessons from the Book of Chuang Tzu - Part 9

One should accept leaving the world open to its own way and not interfering. Don't try to control the world. Let the world be, fearful of spoiling its innate nature. People have become restless, moving here, moving there, planning to no purpose, travelling for no good reason or result. The consequence is that humanity becomes concerned with mightly goals and plots, ambition and hatred. People cannot therefore find time to rest quietly in the essential qualities of their innate nature. Our society celebrates quibblers. The world gets worse when humanity honours and values things like arts, rituals, famous people, wise people, heroes, music, morality, knowledge. [It's all cause and effect. If we want peace and contentment we need to reduce the causes that we create eg. by watching the news or discussing politics, art, music, etc. so that we don't create the next effect. Peace is absence of constant effects.] Actionless action is the best course. By non-action we can rest in t...
Post a Comment
Read more