Release.


57

Release.


Who would not wish to be the very best that they can in what they do? Sadly, we can all remember, or even indicate, those who for one reason or another did not fall into this category, being happy to just muddle through.  Fortunately, they are in the main a minority. Most who teach would wish to be good teachers, most artists have an innate desire to paint something that will continue to give joy for many years after they have shrugged off the mortal coil.

The poet or author hopes that the penned words are remembered and spoken of for years ahead.

The Tao Te Ching says if we wish this to be so, then it is important, first to learn the way of the Tao. So much time is wasted planning and scheming to bring our plans to fruition. The ambitious person finds it very difficult to step back, to stop controlling themselves but also others around them.

It may seem strange but Lao Tzu seems to turn everything on its head when he advises us how to become the very best in what we do. For example, he suggests that the more rules and restrictions we construct for ourselves and those around us, the poorer we become and further from our aims than we would wish.

He even suggested, all those many years ago, "Let go Religion."  or as we might say, let go of religion. Suggesting that religion can lead to us imposing rules and restrictions. This, in turn, makes us more judgemental of ourselves and others, so less at peace.  Radical thinking indeed, but not to be ruled out in haste.

It would seem that if we are to become the best, we can in whatever we do, first become honest with ourselves, seek to live in harmony with ourselves and those around us. Never surrender to negative thinking but be a positive person living the Tao.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Be Calm

Image
63 Be Calm   Life seems to be lived at a frantic pace, everything has to be done, and everything has to be done now. It was, not so very long ago, that the attention span of a human being was considered to be twenty minutes. Recent figures say that now the attention span of a child is down to fifteen. Teachers have now to prepare lessons keeping this in mind, changing the activity more frequently than before to allow them to hold the students' attention. In sharp contrast, Lao Tzu tells us that nothing good is achieved from rushing around. A simple statistic seems to give some support to this. When the speed limit on motorways was reduced by ten miles an hour there was almost an instant drop in the number of deaths on the roads. We gain so much more when we take life at a slower and simpler pace. How can the mind be fed and inspired by the beauty of life around us, if we are in too much of a rush to see and take it in? How can we learn from one another if we do ...
Read more

Solitude.

Image
42 Solitude. "The sage takes such things and makes the most of it. Embracing his solitude." I could have made those two sentences into one by adding the little word, by. Lao Tzu on more than one occasion speaks of times of solitude, here he goes a stage further and says he embraces it as if it was a dear and precious friend. The creative person will be familiar with the thought of embracing solitude. Most creative things are accomplished after and during times of working alone. Some may find it helpful to be part of a group, working together and sharing the experience, but even those moments are just an interlude to the many hours closed away in the studio or at the workbench. The writer, sitting at the keyboard hour after hour putting words from the mind and moving them into flowing and captivating prose. It often seems that we live with a fear of solitude and silence. Some say it is the loneliness of such, but that may be too simple. We seem to be in...
Read more

Yin - Yang.

Image
28 Yin - Yang To be truly creative the artist of either painting, music, sculpting or composing must know the strength of the male and grasp firmly to the sensitivity of the female. To know and to sense both the Yin and the Yang. It is in knowing and sensing this marvellous harmony of the universe that the creative person finds the joy of the Tao as the creative process flows and streams. Lao Tzu says when we grasp both the Yin and the Yang we become again like a child. In this state of being, we can create with real freedom. He goes on to speak of the uncarved block of wood. In the hands of the creative, living with the Tao, it can become so many wonderful and useful things.                                                                               The artist who ...
Read more