"Yin: Beloved Dark" by Jeannie Zandi
While your eyes are closed, I want to invite you to let your whole body soften. Let your attention sink into your felt experience. You might take a few long breaths. Focusing on the exhale, just to let the whole body settle. And gentle. Noticing the weight of the body sinking into your chair, into the earth. Letting your root soften open to the earth, as much as it can. Letting your belly be fat. Inviting the solar plexus to soften with breath. The heart to soften. The hands. The face. Let every expression just droop off of your face. Just here. Softy. Letting breath travel around your body. Softening as it goes. Softening all around the things that are tight, letting them be here. Letting them float along in our soft pool of being. Little nuggets of tenseness floating in this soup of being. And this is the voice of yin. The voice that invites softening, the voice that invites sinking, the voice that invites receptivity, availability. The voice that calls us to soften and dissolve. Give into gravity.
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“The Tao Of Health, Sex and Longevity” (excerpt) — by Daniel Reid
Taoists advocate living (that is, being connected) in complete harmony with the great patterns of nature (as opposed to our modern day disconnect with the wonderment of creation and ultimately our capacity to listen and be intuitively fed), and they venerate (regard with the greatest respect/admiration, lionize, revere) womanhood precisely because women are by nature far closer to…
Tao Te Ching (Chapter 8) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
Tao Te Ching – Chapter 8
Water is the most prominent image of the Tao in the Tao Te Ching. We saw this first in Chapter 4 where several characters used to describe the Tao had water radicals or roots. Here the chapter begins by explicitly comparing the Tao to water.
Before we talk about that, however, I want to introduce you to a character that is repeated in this chapter 9 times!
“The Suppression of Yin, Patriarchy and the Person of Jesus” by Keith Basar
Throughout history, overemphasized attributes of Yang, at the expense of the balancing properties of Yin, have produced a highly toxic setting for a vast majority of humans. Patriarchy is a powerful example of such. A subdued Yin produces an overly aggressive, exploitative, domineering male-centic world.
Tao Te Ching (Chapter 6) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
If Chapter 5 is one of the most misunderstood chapters in the Tao Te Ching, then Chapter 6 is one of the most enigmatic. And one of the shortest. Just 26 characters, it has spawned pages of commentary. Like the blind men and the elephant, everyone sees different facets of meaning. When we can release the need to have a single, “right” meaning, when we can let the meanings swirl in mystery, then we enter the true meaning beyond words, the mystery beyond understanding. And it is beautiful.
Tao Te Ching (Chapter 4) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
Tao Te Ching – Chapter 4 (commentary)
This short chapter, one of my favorites, and one of the most enigmatic, attempts to describe the indescribable Tao by using three images.
Tao is empty, yet in use is inexhaustible
The first is an image of emptiness, like a hollow bowl or an empty vessel. The emptiness of the Tao is not a barrenness, but is dynamic with potential. This image also has a connotation of a welling up, as an inexhaustible spring bubbling up from the ground.
Tao Te Ching (Chapter 3) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
This chapter is divided into two parts and a coda. The first part highlights the cause and effect relationship between creating or perceiving disparity and the resulting discord. The second part is often interpreted as giving advice on how to govern others, but personally I think it is about how we govern ourselves.
Tao Te Ching (Chapter 2) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
The second chapter of the Tao Te Ching introduces two themes: non-duality and wu wei.
Non-duality
The first part of the chapter illustrates the nature of non-duality with a list of complementary qualities which we often see as opposites, showing that our perception of these qualities comes from their manifestation into being. So, for example, we know the manifestation of beauty because of ugliness, and the manifestation of kindness because of unkindness.
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Tao Te Ching (Chapter 1) — a Commentary by Galen Pearl
Over the following months I will make available to my readers a wonderful, insightful and practical set of commentaries based on select verses within given chapters of the Tao Te Ching. This fine interpretive work is crafted by author, teacher and student of the Tao, Galen Pearl. Like dazzling sea glass scattered along a shoreline, Ms. Pearl’s commentary wisdom shines throughout all 81 chapters. Her good work has aided and inspired me in my own trek into the human drama called Life. I thoroughly honor her heart, dedication and immense love for truth. She is a gift to us all!
Galen will be publishing all 81 chapters of commentary sometime during the 2022-2023 calendar years. I’ll keep you all posted on that release date.
INTRODUCTION
The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese text consisting of spiritual teachings, folk wisdom, political instruction, cosmology, observations of nature, anti-Confucian doctrine, and mystical insights…
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“The Wandering Taoist” — story by Solala Towler (transcript from YouTube)
The cold wind blowing off the western desert ruffled the beard of the old man riding slowly atop the water buffalo. It whipped around his traveling cloak and made him shiver deep within his robes. He tried wrapping the cloak a little tighter around his shoulders but it did him little good. It was a bad time of the year for traveling, but that could not be helped. The stolid beast plodded on slowly toward the frontier.
A horse would have been faster, but this beast was steadier, more surefooted in the mountains and ate very little. He supposed it was a bit of reverse vanity that prompted him to travel on so humble a mount, the last vestige of the once proud royal archivist.
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"When We Walked with God" by Galen Pearl
The Garden of Eden story fascinates me. I’m going to ask you, just for purposes of this post, to take the story out of Biblical context. Put aside all the theology, all your beliefs and opinions, whatever they are, about the Bible and religion. Just for a few minutes, consider this story without any preconceived notions. Disregard for the moment issues about obedience, sin, and punishment. Please understand that I am not challenging or disrespecting anyone’s beliefs. And I’m not asking anyone to change what they believe. This is just an invitation to look at the story itself without any additional context to see what we notice.
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“Christ The Eternal Tao” - (excerpt) by Hieromonk Damascene
In modern Western society, many people turn away from the Christianity of their formative years because they find its truths smothered under an unreal kind of religiosity. They see that the people in the churches are not changing and becoming better, but rather are comforting themselves and each other la their unregenerate state. They find that the Spirit of the Western churches is, at its Core, little different from that of the world around them. Having removed from Christianity the Cross of inward purification, these churches have replaced a direct, intuitive apprehension of Reality and a true experience of God with intellectualism on the one hand and emotionalism on the other.
PURCHASE: “Christ The Eternal Tao”
“Introduction” (from EVERYDAY TAO by Deng Ming Dao
Following Tao means following a living path. It is a way of life that sustains you, guides you, and leads you to innumerable rich experiences. It is a spiritual path of joy and insight, freedom and profundity.
Tao is everywhere. It is literally the movement of all life. It is endless and flows in all directions. Since Tao is the total ongoing process of the universe, it makes sense to go along with it. If we swim in a river, we should make use of its current.
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“Of Butterflies and Egos” (chapter from "30 Days of Tao") by William Martin
My needs are real,
as are my sorrows.
My opinions count,
as do my actions.
I’m the star of this production
so listen to me
and take me seriously!
When I’m gone the loss will be
horrendous for I am the
irreplaceable,
indispensable,
irretrievable,
Me!
“Wouldn’t It Be Nice if Christians Became Taoists?" Hope for the Emerging Christian Church" By Bruce Epperly and Jay McDaniel
The emerging church in the West – the church of spiritual seekers who seek to share in the journey of Jesus but not impose it on others -- is already Taoist in tone. What remains is for participants in this new and emerging church to turn eastward, learning from Asian Christians and the cultural traditions they bring with them, and thus learning to gentle their enthusiasm with the humility of stardust. What remains is for them to realize that one of the best ways to “proclaim the gospel” is not to proclaim at all, but rather to travel a path of gentleness, which is its own proclamation, its own good news.
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“The Opposite of Taoism is Fascism” (excerpt) by the Barefoot Doctor's Guide to the Tao by Stephen Russell
Taoism essentially means to follow the path of least resistance while always maintaining respect and consideration for the welfare and freedom of all other beings. Fascism means to control the behavior of others and manipulate them to comply with your particular model of reality, by force if necessary. If you're particularly charismatic or plausible you can gather a following fairly easily because, perversely, many people like to be controlled by someone else. It makes them feel safe and for a while gives the illusion of having no responsibility for their lives. These unfortunates are the anti-warriors.
"Myth of Myself" (excerpt) The Tao of Philosophy by Alan Watts
...Generally speaking, we have two kinds of consciousness. One I will call the "spotlight," and the other the "floodlight." The spotlight is what we call conscious attention, and we are trained from childhood that it is the most valuable form of perception. When the teacher in class says, "Pay attention!" everybody stares, and looks right at the teacher. That is spotlight consciousness; fixing your mind on one thing at a time. You concentrate, and even though you may not be able to have a very long attention span, nevertheless you use your spotlight: one thing after another, one thing after another . . . flip, flip, flip, flip, flip. However, we also have floodlight consciousness. For example, you can drive your car for several miles with a friend sitting next to you, and your spotlight consciousness may be completely absorbed in talking to your friend. Nevertheless, your floodlight consciousness will manage the driving of the car, will notice all the stoplights, the other idiots on the road, and so on, and you will get there safely without even thinking about it.
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“The Tao of Forgiveness” (excerpt) by Derek Lin
How Do We Forgive Those Who Have Offended Us?
One day, the sage gave the disciple an empty sack and a basket of potatoes. "Think of all the people who have done or said something against you in the recent past, especially those you cannot forgive. For each of them, inscribe the name on a potato and put it in the sack. "
The disciple came up with quite a few names, and soon his sack was heavy with potatoes.
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"Psychology of Lack" (excerpt) Tao of Abundance — Laurence Boldt
The dynamics of the psychology of lack go like this: Simultaneous to the formation of the individual ego there arises a profound sense of lack, a feeling of separation from everything else in life. This sense of separation brings a feeling of contraction and a sense of incompleteness, which we try to mitigate through mental, physical, and emotional attachments. The perceived need to defend and expand our attachments, in turn, creates a feeling of struggle.
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The Tao of Forgiveness (excerpt) Story 5- "Benefit or Harm?" by William Martin
Once, long ago in ancient China, a drought of many years' duration was bringing great misery to a small province. Year after year the people of the province waited for the rainy season to come and bring the needed nurture for the rice crop. Each year the season produced very little rain and the rice crop dwindled. Many were on the verge of starvation. Indeed, some elderly people had died of illnesses brought on by their hunger-weakened condition.