Shadow Work for Dummies XIII
I have had an affinity for the beauty and simplicity of the Tao Te Ching since the start of my spiritual journey in the late 1980’s. The Tao (pronounced Dao) is the basis for Taoism as well as the system of divination that is called the I Ching (pronounced Yee-ching) or the Book of Changes (or Book of Transformation).
I have walked both of these ancient, powerful spiritual paths for decades. They are the foundation of whatever understanding I might have of the Cosmos and how it infuses Itself in our daily, ordinary lives.
The Tao Te Ching, “The Book of the Way” is a series of 81 poems attributed to a mythical man called Lao Tsu (Old Man). He likely lived in the same era as Confucius (circa. 500 BCE). From this earliest book, many others have been written, including writings of Chuang-tzu and Tzu-ssu the grandson of Confucius.
The Taoist poems lay out a way – The Way – a way of living, a way of governing our lives. For leaders and rulers, the book is clear guidance on how to govern a country.
Taoism infuses itself into many other religions and disciplines. Chinese alchemy, Chinese astrology, Chan (Zen) Buddhism, most marital arts like Tai chi, traditional Chinese medicine, feng shui and Qigong have been strongly influenced by Taoism.
All of us have experienced the Tao. Anyone who has been engaged in a serious activity – any artist or athlete – has experienced “the Zone” the place where everything – our ego, our thinking, other concerns – drop away and one is in a place where they are performing at a super-high level.
Something takes over and the game plays itself. At one with the musical instrument, the song writes itself. The poem emerges; the recepie comes out perfectly.
One enters a state of nothingness where everything flows. At that stage, we are in the flow of life and larger forces are at play within and around us.
This is Tao.
Ego has dropped away; conscious (self-conscious) thought is asleep, and we awaken to the Universe in us. The Universal forces are freed to act in and through us, because we have surrendered our small “i” ego-self to the Tao.
We are in perfect harmony with all of Existence. We are supported and guided to successful living with ease:
The Master does nothing, and yet nothing is left undone.
The busy one does many things,
and yet there are many more things to do.
The Tao Te Ching attempts to describe in words That which cannot be described in words.
It’s all about nothingness. It’s about emptiness; about stillness; about discernment; about waiting; about receptivity.
Being a rural society, the images in Taoism are natural:
The movement of water is the highest excellence.
Water benefits all beings equally and without striving.
It seeks the low places that people avoid.
The Tao is like a bellows,
empty yet infinitely capable of producing great power and energy.
A pot has clay sides,
but it’s the emptiness inside that makes it useful.
A wheel has a rim and spokes,
but it is the stillness of the hub at the center that allows movement.
Thus, motion arises out of stillness.
Thus, power arises out of emptiness.
The Oneness of the Tao gives birth to Yang and Yin, male and female, light and dark, active and passive, heaven and earth, hill and valley, up and down, etc.
These things are not opposites but two manifestations that arise when Oneness (which in Reality cannot be divided) appears divided in our consciousness.
Most people in the Western world know little about the Tao and Taoism, but nearly everyone is familiar with the symbol of Yin and Yang:
The Yin-Yang symbol illustrates the flow of the Tao:
The light (Yang) moves but notice the seed of the dark (Yin) already emerging, growing. On the other side, the dark (Yin) is flowing, yet at its zenith the Yang begins to appear.
Thus does the Tao ever change and move, from positive to negative and back again; like breath that needs to go out, to come in and go out again. Our lungs, a cup, our life, our mind – they need to be emptied so that they can be filled again.
The I Ching is the ancient Chinese system of divination (not fortune telling!) whereby one can discern the movement of the Tao to be able to know where the Universe is in Its movement.
The analogy I like to use is this:
Planting seeds is always a great idea.
In cold climates, planting seeds in winter is not going to work.
It is vital to know the signs of the times, so we can do the right thing at the right time, in the right way with the right attitude.
Similarly, if we can discern the movement of the Tao, we can wait until the right moment to act, and be in the flow of the Universe.
The I Ching prefigured (by about 3,500 years!) modern computers. How?
The Yin/Yang in the I Ching are represented by two lines:
_____________________ OR ____________ _____________
A solid line (Yang) and a broken line (Yin).
Computers are based on this same system. They use a 1 or 0 – a binary system to create EVERYTHING you see generated on a computer, from the words on your screen to the most amazing CGI effects in movies.
Everything you see on a computer is either a one or a zero.
The I Ching works like this. Everything you see in the Universe, according to the system of the I Ching, is either a solid line or a broken line.
From the movement these two – from the Yin and the Yang – arises the whole world!
The I Ching takes the basic lines to build eight 3-line images known as “Trigrams.” The 8 “Trigrams” are represented thus:
Heaven ☰
Earth ☷
Wind (or Wood) ☴
Fire ☲
Moving Water ☵
Lake (Still Water) ☱
Mountain ☶
Thunder ☳
From these can be created 6-line images called “Hexagrams” of which there are 64 possibilities. These images presage all of the possibilities imaginable in human existence.
The first two hexagrams in the I Ching are Heaven
and Earth
The trigrams (heaven and earth) doubled.
When these two meet (male and female) all things arise, are born and come into manifestation.
Using the I Ching to guide our lives, we bring a problem or a concern -- a question for the Oracle.
Then, using a form of random chance we come up with the six lines that make up our hexagram. We then consult the Oracle – a I Ching book – and read what the ancient sages have written about this particular incarnation.
The traditional method to come up with a 6-line hexagram uses yarrow sticks, a method that I have not yet tried to master. A simpler method is to use three coins, declaring heads to be Yang and tails to be Yin.
Random chance allows the Universe to speak – to direct the flow of the Tao into our discernment process. We ask a question and “The Sage” -- the Wisdom of the Universe speaks.
In a future blog post I will show you how this process of discernment works. I am happy to do an I Ching reading for you, to help you with any difficulty, puzzle, concern or confusion. It really has answers for us, if we ask and if we listen!
Using the Tao of the Sage we learn to act effortlessly, wait patiently (but actively), discern the signs that things are favorable, or not, and go with the Divine Flow of the Universe that is always (always!) acting for our highest and best good – if (IF!) we can coordinate and cooperate with the infinite, transcendent, mysterious but eminently practical Tao.
Happy Sunday!
John
I am available to do Prosperity Now! individual or group sessions or general life-coaching, I Ching readings, dream interpretation or join us for our weekly Wednesday Course in Miracles group. Please contact me at prosperitynowlifeofdreams@yahoo.com or sign up on my website: http://www.johnafrederick.com
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