Embracing
All
The TAO recommends embracing all—including everyone and everything that one
encounters on one’s life journey—instead
of choosing this and picking that. The fact that humans pick this and avoid
that is based on their past experiences and projecting those experiences into
future as their expectations.
"Good
fortune and misfortune are all in one.
Seeking
one and rejecting the other,
we
become completely confused.
Striving
for goodness and righteousness,
we
become evil and wicked."
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 58)
Embracing everyone and everything is beneficial because
it holds the key to awakening, which is the ultimate understanding of the TAO.
“We
act without over-doing.
We
manage without interference.
We
enjoy without attachment. . . .
Therefore,
we focus on the present moment,
doing
what needs to be done,
without
straining and stressing.
To
end our suffering,
we
focus on the present moment,
instead
of our expected result.
So,
we follow the natural laws of things.”
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 63)
The TAO, however, does not imply that there is no free
will or freedom of choice.
“Fame
or self, which is dearer?
Self
or wealth, which is greater?
Gain
or loss, which is more painful?
Accumulating
or letting go, which causes more sufferings?
Looking
for status and security, we who find only sufferings.
Knowing
our true nature, we find joy and peace.
With
nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to us.”
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 44)
Embracing
helps you let go of all your attachments to life, especially those you think
define who you are.
“Everything
that happens to us is beneficial.
Everything
that we experience is instructional.
Everyone
that we meet, good or bad, becomes our teacher or student.
We
learn from both the good and the bad.
So,
stop picking and choosing.
Everything
is a manifestation of the mysteries of creation."
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 27)
Attachments and Detachments
Attachment
is no more than a safety blanket to overcome fear—fear of change and of the
unknown from that change. To cope with that fear, all attachments become
distractions.
Attachment
is basically your emotional dependence on things and people that define your
identity, around which you wrap your so called “happiness” and even your
survival. Attachment is holding on to anything that you are unwilling to let go
of, whether it is something good or bad, positive or negative.
All
human attachments are the raw materials with which one both consciously and
subconsciously creates one’s identity through a period of confusion and
uncertainty that inevitably leads to the identity crisis. Without human
attachment, there will be no identity crisis.
“The
Way is easy,
yet people prefer distracting detours.
Beware
when things are out of balance.
Remain
centered within the Creator.
Distractions
are many,
in
the form of riches and luxuries.
They
allure us from the Way.
Accumulations
are like extortions of the poor.
They
bring only disasters and sufferings.
Do not deviate from the Way.”
(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 53)
Detachment from the ego-self is the only way to go.
Stephen Lau
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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