Hello my Luscious Luminaries,

Here are my thoughts as promised on Verse 2 of the Tao Te Ching. Once again, the verse is translated by Ralph Alan Dale.

Verse 2– Relativity
We know beauty because there is ugly.
We know good because there is evil.
Being and not being,
having and not having,
create each other.

Difficult and easy,
long and short,
high and low
define each other,
just as before and after follow each other.

The dialectic of sound
gives voice to music,
always transforming ‘is’ from ’was’
as the ancestors of ‘to be’.

The wise teach without telling,
allow without commanding,
have without possessing,
care without claiming.

I n this way we harvest eternal importance
because we never announce it.

This reminds me very much of the Buddhist teaching of ‘funi’ – two and not two, not two but two. It also is the core of the teaching of Oneness – that we are all individual blossoms on the world tree – separate and yet all part of the same whole.

Without one, it is impossible to envisage the other. You cannot understand yourself as being ill, without first understanding the concept of yourself as a healthy person. To achieve a balanced life we have to allow both, without craving either. One state is not necessarily ‘good’ whilst the other is ‘bad’ – in fact it is impossible to see good without also seeing bad. As the first verse illustrated it is always only our perceptions that impose these judgements on to situations.

The depressives amongst you will appreciate the fact that when you have been through a period in the darkness, the light that comes afterwards is all the more brilliant for being seen in relief. The contrasts in life are what give it its interest and excitement. We could all, and indeed some do, pootle along in life without allowing any spikes of feeling, but then are you really feeling anything except indifference? That said this verse carries on neatly from the first by suggesting that if we cease to label things as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ then maybe we will stop experiencing them as such and just start experiencing. We only think we are in want, when we make the comparison with what others have – the ‘keeping up with the Jones’ syndrome. If we actually only looked at our own lives and how abundant they are in and of themselves we would stop thinking of ourselves as poor or rich. Are we poor because we can’t afford 2 cars, or 3 holidays? Absolutely not, but we may feel poor in this instance if all our neighbours seem to have these things. We need to start asking ourselves ‘what have I got?’, rather than ‘what am I lacking?’ We also need to live our lives on their own merits rather than in constant comparison.

This verse also explores the ‘Power of Now’ – ‘is’ becomes ‘was’ in less than a nanosecond and although we never actually experience the ‘to be’, it is what we are creating in every second of our isness. We can only ensure the harmony of our ‘to be’ and the peace of mind of our ‘was’ by living our ‘is’ as we feel to be right and following our truths. This is cause and effect at work. What we cause or create in every second is the effect we will see in our ‘to be’. By living every moment as the witness of our lives and always noting the effect our actions will have not only on ourselves but on the world around us, we can ensure that our ‘to be’ will be everything we desire.

Teaching by example is what is so important in this instance. We can all prate on about doing good – but no one will listen, and why should they? It is only when people can see how your lives are turned around because of your actions that they can start to learn. Words can only implant ideas in the mind, and this can be very valuable, but until people start to actually ‘teach without telling’ then nothing will be learnt.

I love the phrase that follows on from this: ‘have without possessing’. It has long been my thought that there is no crime in surrounding yourself with that which you love and find beautiful – as William Morris so sagely said ‘Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.’ It is when we allow our surroundings and our ‘stuff’ to become our raison d’être or our honzon that it starts to poison our lives. If it is your desire to have 37 swimming pools, have them and enjoy them all, just don’t moan that you haven’t got 38!

‘Care without claiming’ is also an amazing concept. We must all have noticed this within our own lives – that when we care for someone, we are so often only caring because of the effect that person will have on our existence, rather than caring just because you love them. This may be a subconscious selfish action – at the time we are convinced we are acting out of the goodness of our own hearts, but just how often can we aver that this is really true? Are we ever really acting with no ulterior motive? I am sure we have all cared for the people in our lives, but how many of us can actually say that we care for any of the people that we happen across in our lives, never expecting to have any benefit in return? I know that personally I would struggle to find many examples.

The last couplet really reiterates this, by showing that it is those that give without bragging about it that are the truly important people in this world, rather than those who make a big noise in a Smashy and Nicey ‘I do a lot of work for chariddy mate’ type way. Maybe one day I can aspire to any of this, but as I find so often we only teach what we need to learn and so I will go away and ponder further the thoughts that this verse has inspired in me.

Take care and remember that we are all individual circuits of the same motherboard – two and not two! I hope that you will come and join me for my thoughts on verse 3.

Great love to all of you.

Catherine xxx