Verse Ten
Can you hold on to your ego
and still stay focused on Tao?
Can you relax your mind
and body and brace yourself for a new life?
Can you check yourself
and see past
what's in front of your eyes?
Can you be a leader
and not try to prove you're in charge?
Can you deal with what's happening
and let it happen?
Can you forget what you know
and understand what's real?
Start a job and see it through.
Have things
without holding on to them.
Do the job
without expectation of reward.
Lead people
without giving orders.
That's the way you do it.
~ Ron Hogan rendition ~
In our modern world, leaders tend to be people who give orders and make demands on others. It's a military-style mindset. Do what you're told and no questions!! This is as true in government and business as it is in religion.
On one level, it's all about hierarchy. Dig just a little and you realize it's about control. On a state level, the moneyed interests want to control the masses because uncontrolled masses might muck up the system of wealth and power that the moneyed interests benefit from.
On a more personal and individualistic level, we each desire to control our lives because we like it when things go the way we want them to!
But whichever level we point to, the underlying motivation for the desire to exert control is that we're scared of the unknown and the unexpected; just like when we were children, we're scared of the dark and the monsters that may be hiding under our bed or in the closet.
However, no matter how much control we try to take, we know that the unknown is lurking around the next corner. It's waiting there, biding its time, ready to throw a monkey wrench into our best laid plans.
And so, while we like to think that control is about relieving the stress that accompanies our fear of the darkness, in reality, it creates even more stress from the anxiety of potentially losing it. Since we can't account for every variable and every circumstance, we are in constant fear that something we didn't factor in will spoil the stew.
Life is about change and mystery. To be one with Tao, we need to embrace both and realize that, more often than not, the monster hiding under the bed or in the closet is our own self.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
On one level, it's all about hierarchy. Dig just a little and you realize it's about control. On a state level, the moneyed interests want to control the masses because uncontrolled masses might muck up the system of wealth and power that the moneyed interests benefit from.
On a more personal and individualistic level, we each desire to control our lives because we like it when things go the way we want them to!
But whichever level we point to, the underlying motivation for the desire to exert control is that we're scared of the unknown and the unexpected; just like when we were children, we're scared of the dark and the monsters that may be hiding under our bed or in the closet.
However, no matter how much control we try to take, we know that the unknown is lurking around the next corner. It's waiting there, biding its time, ready to throw a monkey wrench into our best laid plans.
And so, while we like to think that control is about relieving the stress that accompanies our fear of the darkness, in reality, it creates even more stress from the anxiety of potentially losing it. Since we can't account for every variable and every circumstance, we are in constant fear that something we didn't factor in will spoil the stew.
Life is about change and mystery. To be one with Tao, we need to embrace both and realize that, more often than not, the monster hiding under the bed or in the closet is our own self.
This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.
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