Verse 35: More Than Enough

Verse Thirty-Five
When you get right with Tao,
everybody wants to be your friend.
When they're around you,
they can relax and enjoy themselves.

People can be easily distracted
by music or good food.
When we try to talk about Tao,
it seems boring by comparison.

It doesn't look like much.
It doesn't sound like much.
But no matter how much you use,
there's still plenty left.
~ Ron Hogan rendition ~

If we're lucky, many of us have met an individual who simply brightens up the room. This person probably is not the most attractive, affluent, powerful or fashionable person we know, but there is something about them that makes us feel special whenever we are with them.

These rare individuals exude love and compassion in every breath they take. They tend not to be judgmental and see the beauty in each person. No matter the situation, they keep a level head and always seem able to make the best of even the worst circumstances. In common parlance, we view such people as angels or sages.

These sorts of folks are the ones who tend to live beyond ego, never competing and never patronizing. Often times, people see them as being rather bland and without great ambition. These enlightened ones simply take life as it comes.

I like the way Roger Ames and David Hall address this topic utilizing the metaphor of artesian spring water.

The central metaphor that pervades the Daodejing (and the Analects of Confucius as well) is making our way in the world. Many travelers along the road of life are distracted by the alluring pleasures of the senses. But way-making fairly described does not resolve itself into this taste or that. Drinking one's cup of experience deeply is like partaking of artesian spring water that is at once the blandest of all things, and the most delicious. Again, like spring water, effective way-making goes unnoticed, and yet it is not only essential to sustaining life, but without argument it is the most precious commodity in the world.

Of all the basic characteristics of the true person of Tao, I think one of the most important ones is the disdain for competition or, put another way, the Tao person seeks to facilitate cooperation in all they do. Diane Dreher writes,

Cooperation forms the very foundation of life as we know it: creating all matter from subatomic energy waves, combining the millions of cells that comprise our bodies, shaping all nature, art, and human society.

As Dreher points out, cooperation is what makes life itself possible. We know this in our hearts simply by looking at the world around us. There is more than enough evidence to sustain this observation and yet, most individuals and groups embrace competition rather than cooperation. We live our lives in a counter-intuitive manner and then we wonder why we suffer from such painful societal and individuals ills.

This post is part of a series. For an introduction, go here.