|
Living The Wisdom Of Tao
by Wayne Dyer
The Tao and water are
synonymous according to the teachings of Lao-tzu. You are water; water
is you. Think about the first nine months of your life after conception:
You lived in and were nourished by, amniotic fluid, which is truly
unconditional love flowing into you... flowing as you. You are now 75
percent water (and your brain is 85 percent) and the rest is simply
muscled water.
Think about the mysterious
magical nature of this liquid energy that we take for granted. Try to
squeeze it and it eludes us; relax our hands into it and we experience
it readily. If it stays stationary, it will become stagnant; if it is
allowed to flow, it will stay pure. It does not seek the high spots to
be above it all, but settles for the lowest places. It gathers into
rivers, lakes and streams; courses to the sea; and then evaporates to
fall again as rain. It maps out nothing and it plays no favorites: It
doesn’t intend to provide sustenance to the animals and plants. It has
no plans to irrigate the fields; to slake our thirst; or to provide the
opportunity to swim, sail, ski and scuba dive. These are some of the
benefits that come naturally from water simply doing what it does and
being what it is.
The Tao asks you to
clearly see the parallels between you and this naturally flowing
substance that allows life to sustain itself. Live as water lives, since
you are water. Become as contented as is the fluid that animates and
supports you. Let your thoughts and behaviors move smoothly in
accordance with the nature of all things. It is natural for you to be
gentle, to allow others to be free to go where they’re inclined to go
and to be as they need to be without interference from you. It is
natural to trust in the eternal flow, be true to your inner inclinations
and stick to your word. It is natural to treat everyone as an equal. All
of these lessons can be derived by observing how water, which sustains
all life, behaves. It simply moves and the benefits it provides occur
from it being what it is, in harmony with the present moment and knowing
the truth of precisely how to behave.
What follows is what
Lao-tzu might say to you, based upon his writing of the 8th verse of the
Tao Te Ching:
When you’re free to flow
as water, you’re free to communicate naturally – information is
exchanged and knowledge advances in a way that benefits everyone.
Be careful not to assign
yourself a place of importance above anyone else. Be receptive to
everyone, particularly those who may not routinely receive respect, such
as the uneducated, homeless, or troubled members of our society. Go to
the “low places loathed by all men,” and have an open mind when you’re
there. Look for the Tao in everyone you encounter; and make a special
effort to have acceptance, gentleness and kindness course through you to
others.
By not being irritating,
you’ll be received with respect. By making every effort to avoid
controlling the lives of others, you’ll be in peaceful harmony with the
natural order of the Tao. This is the way you nourish others without
trying. Be like water – which creates opportunities for swimming,
fishing, surfing, drinking, wading, sprinkling, floating and an endless
list of benefits – by not trying to do anything other than simply flow.
LET
YOUR THOUGHTS FLOAT FREE
Forget about fighting life
or trying to be something else; rather, allow yourself to be like the
material compound that comprises every aspect of your physical being. In
The Hidden Messages in Water, Masaru Emoto explains that we are water,
and water wants to be free. The author has thoroughly explored the ways
in which this compound reacts, noting that by respecting and loving it,
we can literally change its crystallization process. If kept in a
container with the words love, thank you or you’re beautiful imprinted
on it, water becomes beautiful radiant crystals. Yet if the words on the
container are you fool, Satan or I will kill you, the crystals break
apart, are distorted and seem confused.
The implications of
Emoto’s work are stupendous. Since consciousness is located within us
and we’re essentially water, then if we’re out of balance in our
intentions, it’s within the realm of possibility that our intentions can
impact the entire planet (and beyond) in a destructive way. As our
creator, the eternal Tao, might put it, “Water of life am I, poured
forth for thirsty men.”
DO THE
TAO NOW
Drink water silently
today, while reminding yourself with each sip to nourish others in the
same life-flourishing way that streams give to the animals and rain
delivers to the plants. Note how many places water is there for you –
serving you by flowing naturally. Say a prayer of gratitude for this
life-sustaining, always-flowing substance.
The above excerpt is taken
from “Change Your Thoughts Change Your Life Living the Wisdom of the
Tao,” by Wayne Dyer. It is published by Hay House (June 2007) and
available at bookstores or
www.hayhouse.com.
|
