Change Your Thoughts-Change Your Life Part 1 of 20: The Mystery & The Paradox
March 30, 2009 by dr. lam
Well, we return to our old friend, Dr. Wayne Dyer, for more astute profundity; and we also return to the Far East for more enlightened wisdom. Dyer spent a year reading various translations and interpretations of the classic Chinese text, the Tao Te Ching, which was written by Lao-Tzu, a prophet who was the keeper of the imperial archives in the ancient capital of Luoyang during the period of the warring states (about 2,500 years ago). Lao-Tzu, escaping the chaos, ventured westward into the desert and a gatekeeper named Yin Hsi begged the great master to pen this work of 81 verses so as to pass on that wisdom to others (or so the legend goes). So we have one of the greatest works in the world for wisdom of how to live a peaceful, balanced, and joyous life. The Tao (the T pronounced as a D) simply means “the Way”, Te means “the shape and power” (that is, how the Tao manifests), and Ching means “book”.
We will begin a month-long meditation on the Tao Te Ching (the longest blog series to date) that will only scratch the surface of the book and will also be filled with some of the life lessons that I have learned, i.e., to say be tainted by own personal biases that stand even apart from Dyer’s. Before I begin, I would like to thank my good friend and colleague, St. Clair Newbern IV, who on our EO business retreat last month to Marble Falls, Texas, suggested that I read this book and investigate the truths found therein. He professed that he was able to cull many valuable life lessons from this ancient tome, and I have similarly had the same good fortune. Obviously, I shall not explore all 81 verses, just the ones that I have found to be the most cogent and that resonate personally with me. I have focused on only 20 of the 81 verses that have been selected for minimal redundancy and maximal impact first for me and hopefully in turn for you. I hope you find them to be as germane for your life as I have for my own.
Let’s begin with Verse 1:
The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.
The Tao is both named and nameless.
As nameless it is the origin of all things;
as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;
ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.
And the mystery itself is the doorway
to all understanding.
The ineffable quality of the Tao bespeaks the paradoxical nature of Chinese thought: the yin and the yang, two contradictory notions that can be held as one. Western thought abhors this illogical quality in Eastern tradition. However, is there some useful truth in all of this? Dyer talks about how we can separate trying and doing. Sometimes trying is doing, and sometimes they are separate ideas. Dyer talks about the difference between wanting to love and loving, wanting to go to sleep and sleeping, and wanting to diet and dieting. The act of allowing rather than forcing something is where the Tao resides. Further the “naming” he talks about here is the constant desire that we have to force a category or append a label onto something in front of us.
The thing that I have worked on this past year is not forcing things, forcing relationships, forcing or imposing but ALLOWING. Sometimes, we simply try to control too much around us and we fail. Sometimes we are consumed too much with wanting and desiring rather than enjoying what is in front of us. Those are my personal thoughts on the abstruse nature of this verse and how it applies to my life. Today, try to just be an open vessel. Don’t force too much around you. Let things unfold in front of you without the need to apply direct force on everything around you.
Comments
21 Responses to “Change Your Thoughts-Change Your Life Part 1 of 20: The Mystery & The Paradox”
Feel free to leave a comment...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
Fascinating. In last paragraph, word CONTROL shows up. Doesn’t the word control seem to show up in most important conversations/explorations? I am in a group of women studying the movie “Chocolat” as its themes relate to the Lenten season and word CONTROL keeps popping in our discussions. As for Eastern thought, I’m willing to be remain very open-minded to their wisdom; they’ve been around a while!
thanks nord. sometimes we need a little east and west. don’t worry, we are going back to the west in 1 month. i have a great series coming from the west!
I’m afraid that my brain doesn’t quite operate on such a high level of intellect. I didn’t quite understand the top two verses there, but the bottom one makes sense, only because you elucidated on it, Dr. Lam. These verses go up there with Shakespeare in my perspective…lol It’s never been my forte to decipher ancient writing.
I am open minded to eastern thought, because obviously western thought doesn’t have all the answers, but it’s nice to keep the balance, which I think you are doing nicely with your blogs, Dr. Lam.
Okay, this is a really cool topic, because this is actually what I’ve been contemplating for quite some time lately, but just hadn’t had it stated quite like this. I am always trying to control circumstance. I really like how you mentioned that sometimes we are consumed too much with wanting and desiring rather than enjoying what is in front of us! This is so my problem! I really like your idea of allowing rather than forcing things. I personally think that things for some odd reason go more in your direction being like this than not. I haven’t quite figured out why, and perhaps it’s due to my overly western mentality.
Wow, Dr. Lam, you got all that out of that ancient verse! You must have some serious talent here!!!
Hey Heather. I am glad to hear you say that, re: the difficulty.
My thought– (may be very wrong:) it’s teaching us that sometimes when we strive to define or contain something, we diminish it in doing so. Or at least I think that’s PART of what it’s saying.
Yes, Nord, I think that’s a very good point you made there! Very good! Thank you!
Oh please, lol! I just Googled this thing and apparently folks’ve been trying to explain it forever, still disagreeing (good contrarians:). Our guess is as good, at least to us, no?!
It works for me..lol Hey, Nord, you and me google everything..lol
Hey, we’re getting ahead of Dr. Lam with comments here.
There’s a lot of great stuff on that main wiki entry, isn’t there?! Love the ‘net! Yeah, we’re getting ahead of him–he deserves it for throwing down the gauntlet.
I promise I’ll take a break soon–have all these books to read–can’t do both at once though Dr. Lam probably can!
Yeah, Nord.
Long day. Just got home. Consults until 7 pm. Long day of hair transplant. Then dinner with Allergan at a great steak house, III Forks. Now, I can catch up with the TON of comments. Now it is the Heather Nord Show. lol.
Let me try to explain the first 2 verses. First, let me say, I am not some expert sage. I have relied on Dyer’s interpretation heavily to come up with my own launching off point. Also, I have read and reread the 81 verses now in their entirety so my perspective has changed after this studious examination.
You will see many repeated themes throughout his work like the “10,000 things”, “mother”, and “water”. the last one is not featured in this verse…so don’t worry if you don’t get everything. first, the nameless and named has been well described by nord. also, i touched upon it. we tend to try to explain and hyper analyze everything to death (like this verse). many times, things just can’t be named. it is better that way. when we open our creative spirit we don’t get locked down to too much analysis.
As far as the “10,000 things”, this is Lao-Tzu’s method of describing our world that consists of “10,000 things”. He will oft repeat it in the coming verses. So just remember that coded language. it will unlock your understanding of future verses. “the Mother” he talks about is this source of the world, which he views as feminine energy, quite the contrary of our opinion of God being a paternalistic white-robed figure with a beard. He sees the creative spirit and the feminine energy (yin) to be the dominant life-giving forces. As you read the coming blogs on the feminine, creative spirit, and leadership, you will see how heavily he prizes female energy. I guess I lose on that one! Actually, I think more women relate to me than men because I convey a sensitive feminine energy more than most men do. Don’t worry, I don’t cry a lot. Lol.
Wow, that was really sweet of you to explain those verses. I didn’t mean to have to have you go over it just because I failed to get it the first time.
Okay, that makes more sense.
I’ll keep those terms in mind for future blogs.
I do have to agree that you relate excellently with women, which is quite rare!
Hey, are you insinuating that women cry a lot?..lol
no, perhaps that was a bad insinuation. didn’t mean it that way. i don’t mind your asking me to translate a verse into english so to speak. good night!!!
Dr. L, we get to be contrary here, and I love that. I’ve seen you several times. I would not (which is not to say others wouldn’t) describe it that way (sensitive feminine energy). I would say “presence”. You have that. I learned that concept as a college freshmen; Colombian friend told me I had it. I needed an explanation, didn’t understand. YOU have presence. !!!
GN too!
thanks! my presence is now going to sleep.
Nord, that was a very good point! Hey, Dr. Lam, of course I know you didn’t mean that crying bit to be meant that way..lol I actually thought it was rather funny myself. Good night!!
ok, cool.
Hello you three. Haven’t been ignoring you – just wasn’t in the right frame of mind for blogging…
Anywhooo, I understand the first verse very much the same as Nord does, i.e. by naming or trying to define something, you are taking away from its “wholeness” if you will. We need names for things because that’s the way we communicate, but language is limited in expressing the totality of something – we can only get so close.
Hence, the Tao is “both named and nameless”, i.e. it exists in written form, but as such is the mother of 10000 things only, while the true, whole Tao cannot be fully described, and as such is the origin of ALL things.
And wanting to understand will never lead to full understanding. By letting go of trying to decipher and explain everything (using words in the process), we actually remove what is limiting us – and in doing so open ourselves up to the full experience and understanding of what really is.
Anyway, that’s how I understand this verse – and paradoxically, by trying to explain it, I’m limiting myself again – sigh…
off to read part 2 of 20 – boy, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!
did you hear i stole your namaste line? or should i say borrowed it? you will as you read our comments. enjoy the catching up. thanks for your insight. couldn’t agree more.
namaste,
sml
borrow away:)
namaste
haha. thanks!