This is Chapter 23 from the Tao Te Ching as translated by Stephen Mitchell.
I would like to bring our attention to a few key parts, which for me are something I come back to frequently.
How can we come back to our naturalness? By being present to exactly what is. When we are just with what is, and not wrapped up in the tangle of our thoughts, then we are at one.
‘When it blows, there is only wind. When it rains there is only rain’.
We all desire insight and clarity, connection to intuition and guidance from something divine. We can experience this more deeply through being completely present to everything that is. When we experience fear, do it fully. Sadness, grief, resentment; they are a natural part of being a human. It is our avoidance and denial part of our experiences that snare us. If we want the full spectrum, and all that it offers, we can deny ourselves nothing. There was an old Taoist teaching I loved, which was about being a river; letting all things flow, experiencing them fully, not clinging to a sandbank or denying the flow.
‘If you open yourself to insight, you are at one with insight, and you can use it completely. If you open yourself to loss, you are at one with loss, and you can accept it completely’.
And of course this wonderful line;
‘Open yourself to the tai, then trust your natural responses, and everything will fall into place’.
Sent with love,
Jac x