In a recent post, Rich is Nothing More Than Knowing Contentment, I examined the Chinese characters for content (知足 zhizu) as a way of feeling more deeply what being content means. These two characters were:

知 zhi = know; realize; be aware of
足 zu = foot; leg; sufficient; enough; full

If we take the primary meaning of each character we have ‘know foot’ as the literal translation of ‘content’. That seems a little silly at first. We would all agree that (知) ‘know, realize, be aware of’ is essential for life. But, ‘know foot’? How does 'realise one's foot' have anything to do with being content?

Tai Chi exemplifies the connection well. You can feel perfect contentment when you ‘are aware of your feet’. This is hard to describe, but anyone having done Tai Chi for decades will know what I mean. The loss of contentment originates when our ‘head’ gets ahead of our ‘feet’. Thought allows us to live much of life in an imaginary world of words and names, pasts and futures, desires and worries outside the present moment. Little wonder that being present – uterly present – is the holy grail of many a spiritual teaching.

What happens when we get ahead of ourselves and forget our feet? We loose balance and trip over stuff. ‘To be grounded’ is a contemporary term that points to this. ‘Having both feet on the ground’ is another. We lose this balance (physically and emotionally) when desires – all those imagined needs we conjur up – sweep us off our feet. We lose awareness of our feet, we lose contentment. Oh, how important those lowly feet are!