Although Lao-tzu lived 25 centuries ago, he is still very much alive. I feel him urging you to heed the following bits of wisdom:
Create affirmations.
Remind yourself, No one dies, including myself. Affirm that you can never be harmed or destroyed, for you are not your body. If you stay connected to this reality, you’ll automatically deflect dangers that may have previously been able to invade your physical space. For example, as the Indian saint Muktananda lay dying, his devotees are said to have surrounded him, pleading, “Please don’t leave.” Muktananda replied, “Don’t be silly—where could I go?” The great swami realized his true essence and knew that he was at an end without ending.
Die while you’re alive!
In your imagination, contemplate the death of your physical shell: Visualize it lying there lifeless, and observe how you, the witness, aren’t identified with this corpse. Now bring that same attention to your body as it gets up and goes about its daily tasks. Nothing could harm your human form when it was dead, and nothing can harm you now because you are not that body—you’re the invisible witnessing essence. Remain in this realization, knowing that you’ve experienced the death of your earthly container as your primary source of identification. In this new awareness, you’re impenetrable and free. Here’s how Leonardo da Vinci expressed the message of this verse of the Tao Te Ching: “While I thought that I was learning how to live, I have been learning how to die.” Do this now, while you’re still alive.
Do the Tao Now
This Tao exercise is an inner-vision quest in which you picture yourself as immune to harm. Create your own imagined picture of danger, or draw on the 50th verse of the Tao Te Ching for threats to your life. Tigers jump at you and miss, swords are thrust at you but do no damage, bombs explode but you’re unscathed. . . . Keep this image of yourself as incapable of being harmed regardless of what goes on in your body. Then use this “witness to your immortality” vision to help you activate dormant protective forces that will accommodate you in fulfilling what you’ve imagined.
51st Verse
The Way connects all living beings to their Source.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free;
takes on a physical body;
lets circumstances complete it.
Therefore all beings honor the Way
and value its virtue.
They have not been commanded to worship the Tao and do homage to virtue,
but they always do so spontaneously.
The Tao gives them life.
Virtue nourishes and nurtures them,
rears and shelters and protects them.
The Tao produces but does not possess;
the Tao gives without expecting;
the Tao fosters growth without ruling.
This is called hidden virtue.
Living by
Hidden Virtue
This passage encourages you to discover that quality within you that protects, nurtures, and shelters automatically, “without ruling.” Consciously living by hidden virtue probably means changing many of the ways in which you see your role in the grand scheme of things. And a natural starting point would be the way you explain the mystery of how life begins.
If you had to describe your creation, you’d most likely say that you originated through an act of commingling between your biological parents. If that’s the only explanation for your existence, then it excludes the spontaneity and mystery that living by hidden virtue offers you. Operating in this new way expands and redefines your conception and birth, and the world changes as a result of your modified viewpoint.
Living by hidden virtue allows you to get the most out of life because it means seeing that it’s your choice and responsibility to decide how you’re going to spend it. Not living by hidden virtue, on the other hand, ensures that your role in a family or culture is assigned at birth (or even conception), with predetermined expectations about how you should and will function. Your days become filled with stressful attempts to please those to whom you’re biologcally related. You experience the nagging self-criticism that you’re disappointing a parent or grandparent, along with unsettling desires to be free of the pressure of your gender or placement in a designated family. Trying to operate within this belief system can consequently keep you trapped in an unpleasant and intolerable role of servitude and obsequiousness.
In the 51st verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu asks you to expand your vision and begin to see yourself as a creation of the Tao. Imagine that the tiny seedling that was you didn’t come from another particle, but rather from an invisible Source. And this Source that sprung you into existence, herein called “the Way,” has no preconceived doctrine dictating what you should do, whom you should listen to, where you should live, or how you should worship. The Source, your great Mother, has no investment in the choices you make during your individual journey—it knows that the seedling that was you is perfect and free to complete itself in whatever way it chooses. This Mother, which is the Tao, has no expectations for you . . . no demands, no battles or wars for you to fight, no history to live up to.
The Chinese refer to this hidden entity that brought you into existence as Te. I’m referring to Te here as “virtue” or “character.” And Jonathan Star’s translation of the Tao Te Ching interprets it in this verse as follows:
Though Tao gives life to all things,
Te is what cultivates them.
Te is that magic power which
raises and rears them,
completes and prepares them,
comforts and protects them.
Te, then, is the virtue that’s deep within you and all of creation. This isn’t a force that guarantees the physical shell will never die; it’s more a characteristic that allows you to move through the material world in your body, perfectly aligned with the creative originating force. Read this verse as a reminder that you’re protected and completed by your ultimate originating Source, which isn’t the same as guaranteeing your security in this phenomenal world. Helen Keller 51st Verse was speaking of this very thing when she stated, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature . . .”
The 51st verse is about learning to trust by changing your view of life to include Te, or hidden virtue. It’s about seeing yourself as a member of a family of oneness, with the same parents as all other creatures. It’s about feeling your total freedom—to produce without possessing, and to keep from becoming a possession yourself. So give without expecting, and don’t be victimized by the expectations of others.
Here are suggestions offered to you by Lao-tzu as I gaze at the great master’s picture before me and feel as if we were one:
Practice feeling safe and protected.
Live each day trusting in the hidden virtue that’s both within you and that caused you. Keep in mind that the feeling of being secure, shielded, and nurtured won’t come from anything you might possess. Instead, it will arise when you know that you’re in constant contact with a virtuous power that lies within every cell of your being. This hidden force is responsible for your very presence.
You sprang into existence by virtue of Tao; and while your every breath and action aren’t commanded to do so, they nevertheless pay homage to the inner virtue that is your life. That power is in my hand as I write these words, and it’s in your eyes as they read this page. Trust in it. Worship it. Feel safe in the force that remains hidden. This is all you need to feel complete.
Remember that the Tao produces—it doesn’t possess.
Do the same and you’ll achieve the wisdom of this verse. Be a caretaker, not an owner. Don’t attempt to control anyone; instead, foster growth without dominating or ruling. When you’re in a supervisory role, allow others to activate their hidden virtue as much as possible. Just as you wish to feel protected and trust in that invisible force that animates you, so does everyone you encounter. I emphasize this word because there are no exceptions.
; Witter Bynner’s translation of this 51st verse of the Tao Te Ching states:
All created things render, to the existence and fitness they depend on . . .
Do you likewise:
Be parent, not possessor,
Attendant, not master.
Be concerned not with obedience but with benefit, And you are at the core of living.
I urge you to remember the phrase “Do you likewise,” and live by hidden virtue.
Do the Tao Now
Plan a day of letting go: Let go of thinking, and discover the all-embracing nature of the mind. Let go of preconceptions and ideas, and experience how things really are. Let go of needing to control others, and discover how capable they really are. Take time to find your answers to the question What might really happen if I let go? As you do this exercise, you may be surprised to discover that you find more of the hidden virtue in your life, which then changes the way you see yourself.
52nd Verse
All under heaven have a common beginning.
This beginning is the Mother of the world.
Having known the Mother,
we may proceed to know her children.
Having known the children,
we should go back and hold on to the Mother.
Keep your mouth shut,
guard the senses,
and life is ever full.
Open your mouth,
always be busy,
and life is beyond hope.
Seeing the small is called clarity;
keeping flexible is called strength.
Using the shining radiance,
you return again to the light
and save yourself misfortune.
This is called
the practice of eternal light.
Living by Returning
to the Mother
This verse tells you that it’s valuable and important to realize that your life is more than just a linear experience happening in time and space. That is, you more or less currently view your time on Earth as a straight line from conception to birth—you’ll move through predictable stages of development, concluding with death, where you’ll meet up with the mystery that awaits you on the Other Side. Lao-tzu is inviting you to see that your existence is a return trip to the place where all the planets’ creations emerge. He wants you to realize that you have the ability to enjoy this mysterious beginning before your physical ending. This mystery, which is in each and every one of the 10,000 things, is referred to by Lao-tzu as the “Mother,” or the symbol of what lies beyond all that seems to begin and end.
Start your journey back to the Mother by contemplating the first two lines of this verse of the Tao Te Ching: “All under heaven have a common beginning. This beginning is the Mother of the world.” Let this thought filter into your physical being and create a state of awe about your existence, which emerged out of no-thing-ness. Know that this unseen Source that births every single thing also birthed you. Like electricity streaming through a conduit, the mysterious nothingness flows through and sustains all of life, including you. It’s a constant invisible, soundless, odorless force, which isn’t immediately available to your sensory self.
It’s vital that you spend a few moments each day getting to know your (and my) eternal Mother, which you can do by simply acknowledging her presence and silently communicating with her. Once you decide to know and honor her, you’ll begin to change the way you look at all of her children, including yourself. You’ll view all of the 10,000 things as offspring of the Mother, and you’ll look beyond the temporariness of their appearances to see the Tao unfolding. This is what Lao-tzu means when he asks you to know the children not as separate from their Mother, but as the Mother herself. So see all of creation as originating in the Mother, and then “go back and hold on to” her.
How do you embark on this return trip to your eternal Mother? Lao-tzu advises that you close your mouth and seal your ears to ensure that your spirit isn’t frittered away on worldly activities. In other words, spend time with the maternal part of yourself, and seek clarity by noticing the Tao in the small and the large. Practice abandoning rigidity, and instead cultivate elasticity to improve your strength. Lao-tzu concludes by telling you that this way of seeing the world is “the practice of eternal light.” See that light in the tiniest insect, and even in the invisible particle that forms that little creature’s leg. It’s the same light that beats your heart and holds the universe in place—so allow yourself to not just be in awe of the insect but to be that insect. In this way, you find clarity through “seeing the small,” and you’ll improve the power of your new way of seeing through your flexible viewpoint. Change your linear thoughts about your presence here on Earth, and begin to see your life change right before your eyes!
Lao-tzu offers the following to you, through me, to aid you in “the practice of eternal light” in today’s world:
Open mouth—spirit escapes. Closed mouth—spirit connection excellent!
Think of your mouth as a gate that guards your spirit: When you speak to others, become conscious of the need to close the door and allow your spirit to be safely ensconced within you. Make the same mental shift with your ears: Keep them sealed when it comes to rumors and petty conversations. Use fewer words; commit yourself to long periods of listening; and eliminate giving advice, meddling, and participating in gossip.
Cultivate your strength with the flexibility of consciously deciding when to involve your speaking and auditory senses. When you’re inclined to get into other people’s business, remember that your eternal Mother’s one and only voice is silence. Do likewise, and you’ll feel yourself holding on to her in freedom and bliss, thus returning while living!
Seeing the smallest mystery reveals the grandest mystery.
By being attentive to smallness, you cultivate your desire for clarity. Noting the same spark in microscopic creatures that animates you is a way of exploring life as a return trip rather than a dead end. What seem to be the tiniest mysteries of life lead to an experience of the shining radiance that comes from an appreciation for all that you encounter. You and the Mother who birthed you and everything else are one. By seeing the small, you gain this clarity, which is the return trip you’re encouraged to make while alive. Now your world begins to look very different, as you see originating spirit everywhere. Nothing is viewed as ordinary, inferior, or unwanted anymore.
Do the Tao Now
Plan a day dedicated to examining the smallest life-forms that you can find. Become a witness to a spider creating a web, a sand crab scurrying along the beach, or a fly buzzing about on the wall. Take an imaginary trip through your insides, examining the life-forms that reside in your intestines, in your bloodstream, or in the lining of your eyes—all creatures that you’d need a powerful microscope to be able to see. Meditate on the Mother birthing these little bacteria in order for you to exist. Experience the way viewing your body through the infinitesimally tiny life that’s part of you affects you. Living by returning to the Mother will provide you with a clarity you’ve never experienced before.
53rd Verse
If I have even just a little sense,
I should walk in the Great Way,
and my only fear would be straying.
The Great Way is very smooth and straight,
and yet the people prefer devious paths.
That is why the court is corrupt,
the fields lie in waste,
the granaries are empty.
Dressing magnificently,
wearing a sharp sword,
stuffing oneself with food and drink,
amassing wealth to the extent of not knowing
what to do with it,
is being like a robber.
I say this pomp at the expense of others
is like the boasting of thieves after a looting.
This is not the Tao.
Living Honorably
Imagine that you were able to view the world from a position o
f complete honor and oneness: Everywhere you looked you saw the Great Way . . . and saw all of it as you. From this perspective, every person who’s ever existed, or will ever exist, is a part of you, birthed by your Source. All of life—the creatures, the land, the oceans, and the vegetation—are connected by the Tao. From this perspective, your world would change dramatically. If a critical mass of humanity had this same perspective, seeing the whole globe as part of ourselves would translate to the same respect for every form of life that we have for our individual bodies. And this unity would make the scene that Lao-tzu is describing in this passage impossible.
Despite all of our technological advances, the words that the great Chinese master wrote 2,500 years ago still apply. Unfortunately, we’re far removed from walking the Great Way, for we continue to see great divisions rather than a sense of unified oneness. As Lao-tzu admonishes at the end of this verse, “This is not the Tao.”
One of my favorite translations of this 53rd verse of the Tao Te Ching was written in 1944 by Witter Bynner. He expresses it perfectly:
See how fine the palaces
And see how poor the farms,
How bare the peasants’ granaries
Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life Page 20