“We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. For any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs unsatisfied is as ineffectual as if no attempt at order had ever been made.” ― I Ching
I Ching, First Edition in English 1950
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Basically, there are two types of people in the world. There are believers, and then there are the skeptics.
The believers often have a problem understanding the skeptic and his/her point of view and don’t realize how difficult it is for a person to go from doubt to having faith.
The problem is that the line between doubt and belief is more like an invisible barrier—a fine line, and until that person is willing to step over it, they won’t be able to have a better understanding of what’s on the other side.
Of course, you just can’t snap your fingers and ask someone to take “a leap of faith,” but you can request that a person be willing to contemplate the question and keep an open mind to the possibilities.
There is an eternal spirit—if you want to see it, you must cross over into another dimension and step through that barrier between doubt and into faith!
For over a year now I’ve been working on a new book, but in as much as this particular piece relates to my work with the Tao Te Ching I’m including it here:
Stop the regimentation in classrooms. Throw out most of the testing and back away from applying pressure—pressure on the students and pressure on the instructors.
First, concentrate on things that build character and back away from a rigid curriculum. Give the students more choices and the teachers more freedom to teach.
Then, follow the ancient wisdom: acquire teachers who will love and care for their students and bring it about that students will respect and honor their teachers.
This is a solid foundation for a successful school system.
In the United States and around the world, education is a topic of wide interest and criticism.
I believe if Lao Tzu were alive today, he would be saying that there are more pressing things than getting an institutionalized education. He would ask why so many of us are putting our children into pre-schools. For ultimately, the real question is this: is it more important for a person to be smart—or—to be a good person? These are choices, but virtue and goodness must take precedence over knowledge and acquired learning. Otherwise, the planet will never be at peace.
If Lao Tzu were alive today, he would counsel us not to put so much pressure on our young. He would tell us to give our children more time to soak up their mother and father’s love. Also, he would tell us to cut down on promoting competitiveness and concentrate more on producing loving, caring, well rounded human beings.
So the message comes down to this: first be a good person—and then, everything else will fall into place.
The Tao Te Ching is not a book on how to achieve sainthood or self perfection. It’s more about living as a caring human being and learning forgiveness. It’s about having a sense of humor and going with the flow of things. It tells us that if we want to succeed in life, then we need to nurture ourselves with love and joy, but at the same time, we need to share that love and joy with others. The Tao Te Ching tells us never to be selfish and to be willing to join with the rest of the world, so whatever talent that we possess is not to be held on to by us but is to be freely taught and shared with others. Why would this be so?
The Tao Te Ching teaches that there is a disparity between the highs and the lows in our world. There is a separation between each of us and the rest of the humanity. When people are willing to give more of themselves and to get rid of their own selfishness, this brings back the Tao (the unifying factor) and everyone is pulled closer together.
From the Tao Te Ching’s teachings, what might we construe about the government shutdown and deficit default crises happening in the U.S. right now?
First, instead of there being a “union,” there seems to be a great divide in consciousness currently going on in our country, and it doesn’t take a sage to see this. Also, whenever there is conflict, there is duality. When duality is present, it can be said that the Tao (the unifying factor) withdraws. Then, as things progress, even good intentions can get thrown into a dark vortex, and the end ingredient becomes self interest and self defense. Instead of people following their conscience, the majority think in terms of “party” and “party lines.”
The meaning of the word “Te” from the Tao Te Ching means “Virtue” but another meaning can also be interpreted as “Power.” One thing the Tao Te Ching emphatically states is that any person or group that attemps to seize power for its own ends will never fully succeed.
Therefore, an agreement will only be possible, when both parties let up on the power struggle and bring the Tao back in. Then the conflict (duality) can come to its ignoble end.
From my version of the twenty ninth poem in the Tao Te Ching:
Nowadays, it seems that most of the world is confused as to what it should value most. Certainly, we value the strong over the weak. All you have to do is count the number of Rambo-like characters on our television screens or in our movie theaters.
Yet, here I am telling you there needs to be a change in our way of thinking because enduring strength is more like water and water looks like weakness. Actually, this isn’t anything new. The world has long been enamored with “machismo” and now, there is even a growing “machisma.” Lao Tzu talks about the problem in the Tao Te Ching. Here are examples from my version:
It’s true—the Tao Te Ching and Lao Tzu were suspicious of human technology. Why would this be so?
Look at our history—with each innovation, with every new invention, there is the potential for ten or a hundred new weapons to be produced. This is true even when the invention has some positive beginnings. With every few steps forward that we go, there are a few steps backward that we wind up taking. All we have to do is take a look at the issues with nuclear energy, and its ugly face keeps looking back at us. Now we have the capacity to destroy the entire planet!
On the other hand, if Lao Tzu were alive today, I don’t think he would be attacking technology and innovation. No—he would be promoting the Tao and its goodness. For when the unifying principal is in our world, all things fall into their proper places. When humanity is willing to give up its weapons of mass destruction, then there is the possibility of universal peace on earth, and the desire to use our hard fought technology for only positive endeavors can prevail!
The Tao Te Ching states that humanity has its own purpose for being in the world. There is heaven (yang) and there is earth (yin). There is the spirit and a body and placed between these two forces, in the center is a human being. Why—for what reason have we come into existence?
It tells us that we can bring a balance, a harmony to life because we are to be like a go-between, an arbitrator or a peace-maker, and in a world full of self interest, we can bring a special bias called caring and loving-kindness to a seeming uncaring universe.
Author Robert M. Jankel 