Big Thoughts, Human-sized Canvas
We don’t need to shift our responsibilities onto the shoulders of some deified Spiritual Superman, or sit around and wait for Fate to come knocking at the door. We simply need to believe in the power that’s within us, and use it. When we do that, and stop imitating others and competing against them, things begin to work for us.
It’s rather significant, we think, that those who have no compassion have no wisdom. Knowledge, yes; cleverness, maybe; wisdom, no. A clever mind is not a heart. Knowledge doesn’t really care. Wisdom does. We also consider it significant that cor, the Latin word for “heart,” is the basis for the word courage.
Everything has its own place and function. That applies to people, although many don’t seem to realize it, stuck as they are in the wrong job, the wrong marriage, or the wrong house. When you know and respect your Inner Nature, you know where you belong. You also know where you don’t belong.
Do you really want to be happy? You can begin by being appreciative of who you are and what you’ve got. Do you really want to be miserable? You can begin by being discontented. As Lao Tse wrote, “A tree as big around as you can reach starts with a small seed; a thousand-mile journey starts with one step.”
And when you try too hard, it doesn’t work. Try grabbing something quickly and precisely with a tensed-up arm; then relax and try it again. Try doing something with a tense mind. The surest way to become Tense, Awkward and Confused is to develop a mind that tries too hard – one that thinks too much.
When you discard arrogance, complexity, and a few other things that get in the way, sooner or later you will discover that simple, childlike, and mysterious secret known to those of the Uncarved Block: Life is Fun.
From the state of the Uncarved Block comes the ability to…
But sometimes the knowledge of the scholar is a bit hard to understand because it doesn’t seem to match up with our own experience of things. In other words, Knowledge and Experience do not necessarily speak the same language. But isn’t the knowledge that comes from experience more valuable than the knowledge that doesn’t?
…it’s not the Clever Mind that’s responsible when things work out. It’s the mind that sees what’s in front of it, and follows the nature of things.
When you work with Wu Wei, you put the round peg in the round hole and the square…
But if you ignore What’s There and try to lift someone’s car out of a ditch, what sort of conditions will you be in after a while? And even if you have more muscle than anyone alive, you still can’t push over a freight train. The wise know their limitations; the foolish do not.
…when did the Ugly Duckling stop feeling Ugly? When he realized that he was a Swan. Each of us has something Special, a Swan of some sort, hidden inside somewhere. But until we recognize that it’s there, what can we do but splash around, treading water? The Wise are Who They Are. They work with what they’ve got and do what they can do.
Practically speaking, if timesaving devices really saved time, there would be more time available to us now than any other time in history. But, strangely enough, we seem to have less time than even a few years ago. It’s really great fun to go someplace where there are no timesaving…
