Verse 60 - Living with Immunity to Evil

Re: Verse 60 - No Amount of Force Will Do

A friend of mine Boogie / Stacy posted this excellent poem in her blog and somehow it seems to me to fit in with the concepts here -

Re: Verse 60 - Advice from Dr Dyer

Re: Verse 60 - The Tao of Motherhood

From The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure

60


MIRROR

As much as possible, let your
children find their own way.
Mother them delicately,
like frying eggplant.

Negative states will arise,
express, and pass away.
Allow this to happen.  Help the
child to become aware of this
process gently, without intrusion.
The wise parent does not
fight fire with fire.

Be a mirror.  Let your child see
how cause and effect works in life.
Too much interference and advice
gives power to opposing forces.

Re: Verse 60 - The Tao of Emerson

From The Tao of Emerson by Richard Grossman

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

Governing a great state is like cooking small fish.


Let the kingdom be governed according to the Tao,
And the manes of the departed will not manifest
          their spiritual energy.
It is not that those manes have not that spiritual energy,
          but it will not be employed to hurt men.
It is not that it could not hurt men,
          but neither does the ruling sage hurt them.


When these two do not injuriously affect each other,
Their good influences converge in the virtue of the Tao.

From Ralph Waldo Emerson - Essays - ”Character”, ”Politics”

Fear, Craft and Avarice
          cannot rear a state;
The more reason, the less government.
In a sensible family, nobody hears
          the words “shall” and “shan't”.
Nobody commands and nobody obeys
          but all conspire and joyfully cooperate.
The wise know that foolish legislation
          is a rope of sand
          which perishes in the twisting.
The law is only a memorandum.


When the statehouse is the hearth,
          the perfect state is come

Re: Verse 60 - Jonathan Star

From Jonathan Star - Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition

Govern a nation as you would fry a small fish

When Tao is present in the empire
          dark spirits lose their power
It's not that they have no power
          it's that their power can't harm anyone
When Tao is present
          the people enjoy the blessings of Heaven
They find unity
They find peace

What's this about spirits doing harm?
The Sage is approaching
          and they are rushing in to sweep his path !

Re: Verse 60 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

Governing a large country
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

Center your country in the Tao
and evil will have no power.
Not that it isn't there,
but you'll be able to step out of its way.

Give evil nothing to oppose
and it will disappear by itself.

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy - Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

                                                              Give evil nothing to oppose
                                                               and it will disappear by itself.

Life is simple.  Everything happens for you, not to you.  Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late.  You don't have to like it - it's just easier if you do.  If you have a problem, it can only be because of your unquestioned thinking.  How do you react when you believe that the past should have been different?  You scare yourself stuck, because what you resist persists.  You get to keep your stressful world, a world that doesn't exist except in your imagination; you get to stay in the nightmare.  It hurts to oppose reality, because in opposing reality, you are opposing your very self.

When you know how to question your thoughts, there's no resistance.  You look forward to your worst nightmare, because it turns out to be nothing but an illusion, and the four questions of The Work provide you with the technology to go inside and realize that.  You don't have to grope in the dark to find your way to freedom.  You can just sit down and give it to yourself, anything you want.

Nineteen years ago a doctor removed a large tumor from my face.  I had found inquiry - inquiry had found me - so I didn't have a problem with the tumor.  On the contrary: I was happy to see it come, and I was happy to see it go.  It was actually quite a sight, and before it was removed I loved being out there in public.  People would look at it and pretend not to be looking, and that tickled me.  Maybe a little girl would stare at it, then her parents would whisper to her and yank her away.  Did they think they would hurt my feelings, or that I was some sort of freak?  I didn't feel like one.  That tumor on my face was normal for me; it was reality.  Sometimes I would catch someone looking at it, then he would look away, then after a while he would look again, then look away, look again, look away.  And finally our eyes would meet, and we would both laugh.  Because I saw the tumor without a story, eventually he could see it that way, too, and it was just funny.

Everything turns out to be a gift - that's the point.  Everything that you saw as a handicap turns out to be the extreme opposite.  But you can only know this by staying in your integrity, by going inside and finding out what your own truth is - not the world's truth.  And then it is all revealed to you.  There isn't anything you have to do.  The only thing you're responsible for is your own truth in the moment, and inquiry brings you to that.

I once did The Work with a woman who was ashamed of her fingers.  She had developed rheumatoid arthritis when she was seventeen, and she believed that her fingers were deformed.  There weren't normal, she thought, and she suffered a lot from that belief; she was embarrassed even to let people see them.  but her fingers were normal; they were normal for her.  They were the fingers she had woken up with every morning since she was seventeen.  For twenty-seven years they were her normal fingers.  She just hadn't noticed.

How do you react when you believe that what is isn't normal for you?  Shame, sadness, despair.  Who would you be without that thought?  At ease with your condition and loving it, whatever it is, because you would realize that it is completely normal, for you.  Even if 99 percent of other people look a different way, their normal isn't your normal: this is your normal.  That dear woman's argument with reality was what caused her suffering, not her fingers.

Give us permission, through you, to have a flaw, because flaws are the norm.  When you hide your flaws, you teach us to hide ours.  I love to say that we are just waiting for one teacher, just one, to give us permission to be who we are now.  You appear as this, big or small, straight or bent.  That's such a gift to give.  The pain is in withholding it.  Who else is going to give us permission to be free, if not you?  Do it for your own sake, and we'll follow.  We're a reflection of your thinking, and when you free yourself, we all become free.

Re: Verse 60 - Stephen Mitchell & Byron Katie

I think this Rumi in today's daily guide illustrates also what Byron Katie was trying to say in the last paragraph of her essay -

Re: Verse 60 - Dr Dyer's Essay

Your assignment in this verse of the Tao Te Ching is to change the way you view the presence of evil in your personal world, as well as the entire planet.  You can do so by acquiring an inner awareness that evil simply can't impact you if you're centered within the protective net of the Tao.  If you live in accordance with the Great Way, refusing to have injurious thoughts directed either toward yourself or others, then the powers of wickedness and wrongdoing will be rendered impotent.

The Tao isn't about destruction or visiting harm on anyone; rather, it gives sustaining energy to everyone, without exception.  When people violate this principle, they're only successful when others respond in kind.  This is when war erupts and dissension becomes present in the family and the community.  Negativity then begets more negativity, and the leader or ruler will ultimately be destroyed as the larger grouping falls into chaos.

Update your viewpoint on the presence of malevolence in the world to one that emphatically affirms: My loved ones and I cannot and will not be impacted by the presence of evil anywhere in the world.  Your inner landscape will immediately begin to change as well.  So when you see or hear reports of violent thinking and action, your immediate reaction must be, This is not about me.  I choose not to have any thoughts of harm directed to anyone by me.  I am a being of light and love, and therefore the only thoughts that can emerge from me are in harmony with the great loving Tao.  In other words, whatever comes your way because of other people won't evoke a plan of revenge and hatred.  That's because you've made yourself immune to negativity by being Tao centered.

Now you may think that this sounds too simplistic, but imagine if large numbers of people began thinking this way - and then imagine if rulers began to emerge from this kind of consciousness.  As Lao-tzu says in this verse, “If only the ruler and his people would refrain from harming each other, all the benefits of life would accumulate in the kingdom”.  Ultimately, our world must live by this principle or humanity will cease to exist … and it begins with you.

As Tao awareness grows one person, one family, one community, and one country at a time, priorities will shift.  Our energies will go into building more environmentally sensitive vehicles and homes rather than instruments that reflect a belief that we can do whatever we want to the planet without repercussions.  We'll find ways to destroy the stockpiles of unimaginably horrendous weapons of mass destruction.  Cooperation will replace hatred and thoughts of harm.  It will come about, as Lao-tzu states, when rulers and people change the way they think about harming each other.

As you reexamine this passage of the Tao Te Ching, see how it can impact your daily life.  When negativity feels like it's directed right at you, retreat to that place of kindness and love within and deflect that energy.  Remember, it's impossible to pick a fight with someone who refuses to fight !  So your refusal to enter into battle is your most potent weapon against evil.  You can change an angry person's attempt to inflict harm by refusing to lower yourself to the level of their abusive thinking.  From an enraged motorist's curse to the harsh words of a disgruntled clerk or upset family member, these outbursts are easily shifted when you stay centered inwardly.  Become immune to such harmful thinking and action by knowing that none of this is about you.

As he dictated this 60th verse some 2,500 years ago, Lao-tzu was thinking about all of humanity.  He knew that hurtful behavior could be rendered impotent if enough people were willing to live in ways that encourage cooperation and a spirit of love in place of competition and revenge.  Now he asks you to implement the wisdom of this verse by making the …changes (deb's note - in the “Advice from Dr Dyer” posts in this thread) in the way you think about evil and its potential impact on you and the world.

Re: Verse 60 - Living with Immunity to Evil

This has been a meaningful verse for me, at this time in my life.  We have been having struggles with my BIL and SIL, who are on the east coast.  He intends to challenge his mother's wishes, as stated in her trust, because he does not think the dispersement is fair.  What he objects to particularly, is how the real estate is being handled.  What my MIL did was very creative.  She left for my 2 BILs what they have always had, the opportunity to visit this unique and beautiful wilderness, and the right to use and stay in the log cabin my in-laws built here, for the remainders of their lives.  They could even live here, if they were to so choose; but they can not dispose of it, sell it or allow persons to sublet the space, without my husband's (the trustee) approval.  Once my BILs die, the property becomes my 2 children's, who have lived here their entire lives.  

My MIL left us the small farmhouse we live in, that belonged to my in-laws.  They did not want the other brothers to force us to vacate or be homeless.  They did not want the property ever parceled out or sold.  My MIL and I had many long conversations, when I was reading The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight by Thom Hartman (which I have written about in this group).  The pressures of population growth and the potential of human migration away from the heavily populated coasts, due to rising sea levels, concerned her.  We also know, from the fondness for this place of the family who lived here before us, that once gone, it could be hard to recover and might not be possible to recover, or to recover it intact as a whole.

She thought so much of this place, that if there were no heirs, she stipulated that it is to go to the Dept of Conservation, with exclusions for its possibility of sale and, with funds earmarked for its maintenance and preservation.  All of her “liquid” assets are to be equally divided and so, they are only in dispute as my BIL indicated to the trust's lawyer, that he would consider our giving up our share of the liquid assets in order to “secure” the property.  My MIL was always concerned about the youngest brother, who is gay.  She was concerned that he have a place to go - if ill, dying or in retirement, where he would have family members who cared about him.

When my in-laws first became diagnosed with cancer, we were ever having to cope with my NY BILs criticism of our actions (even when these were 100% aligned with my in-law's wishes, which they certainly always were, as much as we were able to understand those) in regard to their health care, questioning and selection of doctors, treatment options, etc.  This occurred even though he has always lived many, many miles removed and only visited 2 or 3 times a year, at most.

So, we find ourselves working hard to heal the wounds of their childhoods and of their parent's dying processes.  I have done Radical Forgiveness at least 3 or more times for my BIL & SIL specifically, during the 2-3 mos since I learned the technique, always using the most powerful method, which is via guided meditation by Colin Tipping on his CD.  I have seen results but there seems ever more layers that emerge to the surface.  

Yesterday, I did yet another session of Radical Forgiveness and adding the Melting Hug concept that's been going around Gaia lately.  I add the youngest BIL, when he indicated yesterday morning, that he hated being put into the middle (he has received weekly postcards, since my MILs death, from the litigious BIL saying “don't cave”) as well as daily phone calls.  Honestly, by his own words, it appears to us, that he intends to play both sides, to benefit in whatever way each side can provide.

If my NY BIL does challenge the estate, which seems likely at this point, despite attempts to reconcile the differences with him (without moving away at all from my MILs wishes at this point), then the estate settlement will be delayed, and the pre-distribution liquid assets of the estate will be used to defend the trust, to the full extent allowed by law, including appeals if necessary.  We suspect we will be accused of influencing my MIL when she was alive and was rewriting the trust, after my FILs death, which was necessary at that point.  Any who knew her, also know what a determined, stubborn and persistent person she was.  That is where my husband and older son get the trait.  My FIL was also very capable of carrying lifelong grudges, until his brain tumor denied him the ability to do so, and I see much of my FIL in my NY BIL.  My FIL and I were very close, and he talked to me of the anger he had against a particular family member, because my MIL would no longer listen to him regarding it.

From this verse, I take these thoughts as applied to my own situation - 

”by acquiring an inner awareness that evil simply can't impact you if you're centered within the protective net of the Tao.  If you live in accordance with the Great Way, refusing to have injurious thoughts directed either toward yourself or others, then the powers of wickedness and wrongdoing will be rendered impotent.”

”This is not about me.  I choose not to have any thoughts of harm directed to anyone by me.  I am a being of light and love, and therefore the only thoughts that can emerge from me are in harmony with the great loving Tao.  In other words, whatever comes your way because of other people won't evoke a plan of revenge and hatred.  That's because you've made yourself immune to negativity by being Tao centered.”

When Dr Dyer says in his essay -

“When negativity feels like it's directed right at you, retreat to that place of kindness and love within and deflect that energy.  Remember, it's impossible to pick a fight with someone who refuses to fight ! ”

I am reminded that the most recent study lesson, of The Four Agreements from Don Miguel Ruiz in our group, included an example of not responding to the efforts of another person to “start” a fight, thereby, saving one's personal power and energy.  I love this group, for through it, I see my life unfold as a reflection of the lessons we study here.

Beyond my own personal situation, I see the truth in what Dr Dyer says in his essay -

“imagine if large numbers of people began thinking this way - and then imagine if rulers began to emerge from this kind of consciousness.”

I think Pres Obama was elected because this is happening.  I think a little boy, who was lost 52 hrs in our county, was found, because generous Gaians came together to add their positive intentions to that outcome.  I continue to do my work, as I am called, until there is no work to do.  Please visit this blog, Relying on the kindness and open hearts of strangers -please help, by a friend of mine, Satya-Seer, a sometimes transient member of this group, and lend any aid you feel moved to include.

Deb