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- CommentAuthorLuke Abbott
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2005 edited
Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Chapter 59 was originally featured on the 4th week in February.
Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 59
In ruling the people and in serving heaven it is best for a ruler to be sparing.
It is because he is sparing
That he may be said to follow the way from the start;
Following the way from the start he may be said to accumulate an abundance of virtue;
Accumulating an abundance of virtue there is nothing he cannot overcome;
When there is nothing he cannot overcome, no one knows his limit;
He can possess a state;
When he possess the mother of a state
He can then endure.
This is called the way of deep roots and firm stems by which one lives to see many days. -
Spare means, to quote the dictionary, "refrain from injuring or using", while sparing means "moderate, economical". This chapter speaks deepest to me when I blend those meanings. The most persistent and insidious traits I see in my self, and everyone else I've known, is failing to "refrain..." or be "moderate..." in the deepest meaning of those words.
When I judge others I'm "injuring and using" them, at least in spirit, to bolster my own position. Once I target the 'enemy' I easily become rash and shortsighted as I pigeon hole 'her/him/it'. While this can feel good, or at least empowering at first, I've come to realized an unseen consequence. The judgements I make, and the extremes I go to, become my limit. That limit possesses me, becoming a barrier that I can't overcome ? I'm the judge, the jury, the prison, the guard and the prisoner all rolled into one.
What to do? What to do? First, following the way from the start means being honest with myself enough to realize this instinctive trait is just that, and thus forever primed to pounce... and once it gets rolling it is hard to stop. The more I am able to be sparing from the start, the easier it becomes to follow the way.
Alas, to be sparing from the start is much easier said that done. The key is being mindful enough... to be mindful enough... to be mindful of the shape that has no shape. I know, it is weird. Sensing the way of deep roots and firm stems is not unlike attempting to sense the roots of trees which lay out of sight under foot.
If returning to one's roots is known as stillness, then being still enough in the moment to look for the roots is where the journey begins. As Christ put it, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened". I like to think of it as we get out of life what we truly want. The problem is we seldom "ask" ourselves what it is that we truly want in life (in the long term). Rather, we get swept away by the myriad transient desires and sensual pleasures in the moment.
ops: 
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- CommentAuthorLuke Abbott
- CommentTimeFeb 27th 2005 edited
OK Papa, I'm imposing a limit for you: no more than two smileys per paragraph...
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Use them 'sparingly', you mean?
But seriously, to me to be 'sparing from the start' equals having realistic expectations...
which for me are often NO expectations. Dont want to be disappointed by expecting something to go well, or devasted when it goes badly. so just go into it expecting it to be, what it is and what it will be.Judging others is impossible, all we are really judging is ourselves. Be sparing in self judgements as well.
'Failing to refrain'-yeah, that speaks to me. I'm getting better at this. Moderation has never been my strong point. Moderation in my ractions to others especially, to their judgements about me. -
This chapter speaks to me of the importance of staying centered and balanced, being mindful in everything we do. When I?m centered and mindful, it doesn?t matter what I?m trying to do, I?m more able to keep things simple. I?m able to keep more to the simplicity of reality, instead of chasing after the illusions of desire.
When it speaks of ?nothing he cannot overcome?, I don?t see this as being about power, like in trying to get ahead in business, or whatever. Rather by embracing reality, following the way, one can accomplish what?s important, because there is less focus on, and interference from, the myriad desires/illusions we all have in our lives.
Also, deep roots and firm stems speak to how things work for me when I?m deeply centered in reality, and mindful about what I?m doing. Then the transitory desires, the difficult interactions, etc. don?t pull me along in their wake. Desires fly by like leaves in the wind ? noticed but not chased after.
I love what Carl said about our judgments becoming our own limits. I find that having compassion for everyone, including myself, helps me to be sparing in my interactions with others, instead of jumping all over them with the way I want things to be. If I?m only focused on what I want/need, there?s little room for understanding of others needs. There?s no recognition on my part that existence is bigger than me and my transitory desires.
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