Good day to you my delightful friends.

Before I begin I just wanted to clarify something. What I am discussing is not exclusive to any religion. There are many that my thoughts are drawn from, but please do not think that my thoughts are endorsed by any official body – as I do not want to mislead people into thinking that they run along any particular lines, or to offend any religion who may think that I have got part of their dogma wrong. The only dogma is that of Catherine and I take full responsibility for it, whilst acknowledging the vast body of esoteric knowledge that I have drawn from.

So – here is verse 3 – as always the translation is by Ralph Alan Dale.

Verse 3 – Tempering
Overpraising the gifted
leads to contentiousness.
Overvaluing the precious
invites stealing.
Craving the desirable
loses contentment.

The natural person
desires without craving
and acts without excess.

By not doing,
everything is done.

Here we are then following on seamlessly from verse 2 – that Lao Tzu knew what he was doing!

When we begin to brag of our possessions, or boast of our abilities, it is because we are not sure of them. Lack of inner security breeds despots and lack of material security breeds misers. I know that I am certainly guilty of this. When I am trying to get something straight in my own mind I need to talk about it and discuss it, but when a belief becomes a knowing, I no longer have to try and justify it – because by then whether someone else believes it or not is irrelevant. We often find that recent converts to causes become their strongest advocates (for example, people who have given up smoking are often amongst the most strident anti-smokers). This tends to be because they have to prove that they have fully committed to the cause, whereas those who have lived and worked amidst a cause for many years don’t have to try so hard anymore, because in their own minds and souls they are confident in their beliefs.

It is when we start to announce to the world how wonderful our possessions are that we invite theft. The person who puts up a vast network of security systems is merely saying to the outside world – ‘look at me, what I have is worth so much more than anything of which you could even dream’. What a red rag to a bull! The person who lives amongst their possessions – making a home rather than a museum of them - is not advertising their ‘superiority’. The Australian Aborigines say that it is only the things you fear that you bring into your life. By fearing that what we have will be lost, we are encouraging that very thing. Indeed, it seems to me that so many of us spend the 90% of our lives that are good, or at the very least ok, worrying about the 10% of the time that will be bad. What is the point of wasting the fun days by saying ah yes, but I might get ill, I might be burgled, I might have a car crash – yes, you might, but then again you might not. In the meantime you have ruined a perfectly lovely day by allowing fear to creep up and bite you on the bum!

We also spend a lot of our existence craving that which we do not have. But how often do we get what we crave still to find ourselves unsatisfied? Either the item that we wanted so badly is not as wonderful as we have dreamt it to be; or it is the actual chase that we find we wanted rather than the object of desire. I suppose that gambling is a case in point here. It is the adrenaline of the uncertainty that comes with the gamble that is the true goal, rather than the win at the end, which is why so many gamblers feed their winnings straight back in. It is very difficult in our western civilization, which has taught us to always seek for more, to actually look at what we have. It is always important to better ourselves, it does no one any good to be stuck, but we need to better ourselves for the sake of our own improvement rather than become bogged down by ambition because we want more stuff than the next person, or because we want revenge, or because our partners tell us they want more holidays, or because the children want a TV in every room! We need to have ambition to be nicer, wiser people and appreciate all that we have – being content in the world we have created now, whilst creating a better world for tomorrow.

‘By not doing everything is done’ are wise words indeed. I know that I have to concentrate everyday on achieving this (which is a paradox in itself!). It is simply by living our lives responsibly every day; by behaving towards ourselves and others in a loving and conscientious manner and by noticing what is wrong in our worlds and making it right that we attain all of life’s goals without pushing or striving. The universe will begin to flow naturally around us and give us what we need, for the precise reason that we no longer need it to be happy.

Once again, I will have to go off and now sort out my own life, but that is the reason for my looking at the Tao Te Ching as a focus point – to make me think and understand what I now need to go forward and do. I am sure so many of you are already much further along the path than I am, but thank you for bearing with my ramblings while I find my way.

Vast amounts of love to all of you.

Catherine xxx