Words can be beautiful tools, painting vibrant landscapes of imagination and sharing the whispers of the heart. Yet, some truths dance just beyond their grasp, like moonlight on water, shimmering and elusive. Lao Tzu, the ancient philosopher, understood this dance intimately.
In the last part of Lao Tzu’s life, he was old, and believed he had come to the end of his usefulness. He had had enough of society and the city and decided that he would move out to the mountains to live out the last days of his life in peace.
As he passed a border post, the soldier in charge of customs recognized him and asked him where was traveling to, upon which Lao Tzu answered that this was in fact his last journey, into the mountains…
The soldier was sad and upset and was hesitant in allowing him to pass saying, “Master can’t go without leaving us your wisdom, please write it down, tell us what is the way in which to live a virtuous life?!”
Lao Tzu took out his tools, sat under a tree and wrote the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching. But instead of leaving a list of commandments or a rigid roadmap, he made it clear that “truth” is not so easy to nail down, and that true understanding requires a subtle approach. The very first words he wrote were…
“The way that can be named, is not the eternal way…” – Lao Tzu
It’s like trying to describe the indescribable…
Trying to distill “truth” into words always limits it to narrow one dimensional reductions which our human minds often force into our own boxes of prior conceived biases… missing the point… reinforcing old beliefs instead of challenging them… but we have to try regardless, because words are how we communicate.
So many of our questions about how to live life well asks for a description of the indescribable and cannot be answered in the simple way we seek. Lao Tzu does the best job of trying to describe the indescribable that I have ever come across:
“For knowledge, add something every day. For wisdom….subtract.” – Lao Tzu
“Be empty. Be still. Just watch everything come and go. This is the way of Nature.” – Lao Tzu
“Be still. Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity.” – Lao Tzu
“Thirty spokes meet in the hub, but the empty space between them is the essence of the wheel.
Pots are formed from clay, but the empty space within it is the essence of the pot.
Walls with windows and doors form the house, but the empty space within it is the essence of the home.” – Lao Tzu
“Look, and it can’t be seen.
Listen, and it can’t be heard.
Reach, and it can’t be grasped.
Above, it isn’t bright.
Below, it isn’t dark.
Seamless, unnameable,
it returns to the realm of nothing.
Form that includes all forms,
image without an image,
subtle, beyond all conception.
Approach it and there is no beginning;
follow it and there is no end.
You can’t know it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you come from:
this is the essence of wisdom.”
– Lao Tzu
“Become totally empty, Quiet the restlessness of the mind, Only then will you witness everything unfolding from emptiness.” – Lao Tzu
“At the center of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want.” – Lao Tzu
I always feel like I need to bring these kinds of teachings into balance by pointing out the opposite side too. All of these teachings sometimes make it sound like no action is needed, only meditation and being “present”. In his teachings Lao Tzu speaks clearly of the need for putting what we’ve learned into action, but that we overemphasize action, turning our actions into wasted energy at the expense of what we gain from in-action…
“Take action when necessary, but remember that all action begins in rest… This is the ultimate truth.” – Lao Tzu
I trust that you’ve enjoyed a week of diving into the wisdom of Lao Tzu.
Embrace these mantras as you navigate “The Way”:
- Seek wisdom in stillness and observation.
- Trust the inner voice that knows your truth.
- Action and stillness are two sides of the same coin.
- Acting in wisdom arises from stillness.
I wish you a happy Sunday, and a well rested start to your week!
– pierre –
Today’s LIVE meditation is: Finding silence.