Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life Read online

  He prefers what is within to what is without.

  Living with

  Inner Conviction

  In this passage of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu reminds us that far too much attention is given to the pleasures and experiences of the senses at the expense of our inner vision. Focusing exclusively on sensory data creates a world of appearances, which are ultimately illusions. Since everything comes and goes, the nature of the material world is obviously restricted to transitory status. When our eyes see only the colors before them, they’re destined to become blind to what lies beyond the world of appearances. We cannot know the creator if we’re focused exclusively on what’s been created. In the same way, we lose our own creativity when we’re unaware of what’s behind all acts of creation.

  Sight, scent, sound, touch, and taste are the domains of the senses. If you’re locked into a belief that the pursuit of sensory satisfaction is the focus of life, you’ll be consumed by what Lao-tzu calls “the chase.” This quest for adoration, money, and power is a waste of energy because there’s never enough, so striving for more defines your daily regimen. You can’t arrive at a place of peace and inner satisfaction when your entire existence is motivated by not having enough. In fact, Lao-tzu states that the relentless chase is a formula for craziness.

  The person who lives according to the way of the Tao is referred to as a sage or a master, an enlightened being observing the world but not identifying exclusively with what’s visible; being in the world, while simultaneously aware of not being of this world. The master goes within, where inner convictions replace the chase. In silence, sustenance is enjoyed beyond the dictates of the palate. From an inner perspective, nothing more is needed. Aware of his or her infinite nature, the sage has the realization that this is a temporary world of physical appearances, which includes the body that he or she arrived in and will leave in. The master sees the folly of appearances and avoids the seductive lure of acquisitions and fame.

  I believe that our ancient friend and teacher Lao-tzu wanted to convey these simple truths when he dictated the 12th verse of the Tao Te Ching:

  Extend your perspective beyond the sensory level.

  Your inner conviction knows that a rose is more than a flower, as it offers a pleasant fragrance and velvety petals. Use that knowing to perceive the creative, invisible force that brings an intricate blooming miracle from nowhere to now here. Experience the essence of the creator who allowed this blossoming masterpiece to emerge from a tiny seed. Note that the seed arrived from what we can only refer to as the world of formless nothingness or spirit. See that spirit animating the colors, scents, and textures; and look at all of life from a transcendent perspective. You’ll be less inclined to join the chase and more inclined to live from the inner conviction that your true essence is not of this world.

  Discontinue pressuring yourself to perpetually accumulate more.

  Let others be consumed with the chase if they choose to, while you learn to relax. Rather than focusing outward, turn inward. Cultivate awe and appreciation as inner touchstones, rather than an outer determination for more adoration and accumulation. When you see a beautiful sight, hear an enchanting sound, or taste a mouthwatering delicacy, allow yourself to think of the miracle within these sensory pleasures. Be like the master who “prefers what is within to what is without.” Allow things to come and go without 12th Verse any urgency to become attached to this ephemeral world of comings and goings.

  Do the Tao Now

  Plant a seed and cultivate it, observing its inner nature throughout its lifetime. Journal what’s within the bud, and gaze in awe at what’s in that seed that will one day create a flower. Then extend the same awe to yourself and the seed that had you contained inside as well. Use this as a reminder of your invisible inner self, which is the Tao at work.

  13th Verse

  Favor and disgrace seem alarming.

  High status greatly afflicts your person.

  Why are favor and disgrace alarming?

  Seeking favor is degrading:

  alarming when it is gotten,

  alarming when it is lost.

  Why does high status greatly afflict your person?

  The reason we have a lot of trouble

  is that we have selves.

  If we had no selves,

  what trouble would we have?

  Man’s true self is eternal,

  yet he thinks, I am this body and will soon die.

  If we have no body, what calamities can we have?

  One who sees himself as everything

  is fit to be guardian of the world.

  One who loves himself as everyone

  is fit to be teacher of the world.

  Living with an

  Independent Mind

  The essential message of this 13th verse of the Tao Te Ching seems to be that it’s crucial to remain independent of both the positive and negative opinions of other people. Regardless of whether they love or despise us, if we make their assessments more important than our own, we’ll be greatly afflicted.

  Seeking the favor of others isn’t the way of the Tao. Pursuing status stops the natural flow of Divine energy to your independent mind. You have a basic nature that is uniquely yours—learn to trust that Tao nature and be free of other people’s opinions. Allow yourself to be guided by your essential beingness, the “natural you” that nourishes your independent mind. By contrast, chasing after favored status or lofty titles to display self-importance are examples of living from a mind that depends on external signals rather than the natural inner voice.

  The Tao doesn’t force or interfere with things; it lets them work in their own way to produce results naturally. Whatever approval is supposed to come your way will do so in perfect alignment. Whatever disfavor shows up is also a part of this perfect alignment. Lao-tzu wryly points out that pursuing favor is alarming, regardless of the outcome. If you gain approval, you’ll become a slave to outside messages of praise—someone else’s opinion will be directing your life. If you gain disfavor, you’ll push even harder to change their minds, and you’ll still be directed by forces outside of yourself. Both outcomes result in the dependent mind dominating, as opposed to the way of the Tao, in which the independent mind flows freely.

  This 13th verse insists that ego and the need for importance are troublemakers that are energized by your in-the-world self. The way of the Tao is to be aware of your eternal nature and step outside of your self or body. No ego means no trouble; big ego equals big trouble. The Tao Te Ching rhetorically inquires, “If we have no body, what calamities can we have?” If you ask yourself this question, you’ll discover a Divine, invisible soul that’s independent of the opinions of all the afflicted seekers populating the world. In the spirit of the Tao, your true nature will replace the pursuit of external favor with the awareness that what others think of you is really none of your business!

  Practice the following principles in Lao-tzu’s message and gain immeasurable inner peace. You’ll be in balance with the natural law of the universe, living with an independent mind in the spirit of the Tao:

  Practice trusting your own inner nature.

  Every passionate thought that you have regarding how you want to conduct your life is evidence that you’re in harmony with your own unique nature—your fervent belief is all you need. If you’re tempted to feel insecure because others disagree with you, recall that Lao-tzu counseled that “seeking favor is degrading” and will lead you out of touch with your true self.

  Give yourself permission to remember that you’re not only your body, and that others’ opinions about what you should or shouldn’t be doing probably aren’t taking into account your true, eternal being. Those other people are also not only their bodies, so seeking their approval doubles the illusion that the physical is all we are.

  Your worldly self isn’t your true identity, so trust your eternal self to communicate with you. It will do so through your inner nature, where you’ll honor it through
an independent mind. Respect your vision and trust your natural, passionate thoughts that are aligned with the loving essence of the Tao.

  Practice being the person Lao-tzu describes in this 13th verse.

  Affirm the following: I am a guardian of the world and I am fit to be the teacher of the world. Why? Because you recognize your connection to everyone and everything through an independent mind whose Source is love. By living from your eternal self, you’ll become a mystical teacher and guardian. The approval that your worldly self sought will be felt as what it was—the dependent mind’s struggle to engage life as if it depended on external approval.

  Do the Tao Now

  Ask yourself right now, What’s my own nature if I have no outside forces telling me who or what I should be? Then work at living one day in complete harmony with your own nature, ignoring pressures to be otherwise. If your inner nature is one of peace, love, and harmony as a musical genius, for instance, then act on just that today.

  14th Verse

  That which cannot be seen is called invisible.

  That which cannot be heard is called inaudible.

  That which cannot be held is called intangible.

  These three cannot be defined;

  therefore, they are merged as one.

  Each of these three is subtle for description.

  By intuition you can see it,

  hear it,

  and feel it.

  Then the unseen,

  unheard,

  and untouched

  are present as one.

  Its rising brings no dawn,

  its setting no darkness;

  it goes on and on, unnameable,

  returning into nothingness.

  Approach it and there is no beginning;

  follow it and there is no end.

  You cannot know it, but you can be it,

  at ease in your own life.

  Discovering how things have always been

  brings one into harmony with the Way.

  Living Beyond Form

  Try to imagine the idea of forever: that which has never changed, that which has no beginning or end. It cannot be seen, heard, or touched . . . but you know it is and always has been. Think of that which even now, in this very moment as you read these words, is the very understanding that’s within you—that essence that permeates you and everything else, yet always eludes your grasp.

  This primordial principle has ruled—and still rules—all beings; all that is or has ever been is a result of its unfolding. Lao-tzu insists that you become aware of this amorphous precept by not relying upon your senses to experience this oneness. In the opening of this verse, you’re urged to see without eyes, hear without ears, and hold without touching; these three ways of living beyond form need to be a part of your awareness. These shapeless realms merge into the one world of spirit (the Tao), which creates and rules all life. You’re being encouraged to live with a total awareness of this all-encompassing principle.

  Some scholars have singled out this 14th verse of the Tao Te Ching as the most significant of all its 81 offerings because it stresses the significance of the single principle that’s the underpinning of all existence. Tapping into this invisible, untouchable, immeasurable force will enable you to gain the harmony that comes with being connected to the oneness, and harmony is your ultimate objective in deciding to live an “in-Spirited” life. You want to learn to abandon your ego—which identifies with the world of things, possessions, and achievements—and reenter the placeless place from which you and all others originated. By doing so you regain the mystical, almost magical powers of your eternal Source of being. Here, you live beyond the world of form.

  When you live exclusively “in-form,” you concentrate on accumulating “in-form-ation.” This 14th verse of the Tao calls for you to immerse yourself in inspiration rather than information, to become at one with that which has always been. And as this verse of the Tao concludes so insightfully, “Discovering how things have always been brings one into harmony with the Way.”

  The Way has no conflict in it. How could it? There is only the oneness that is a blend of the invisible, inaudible, and intangible. Imagine a world where conflict is impossible, where Lao-tzu says that there is no darkness or light. The nameless Source that has always been gives only the peace and harmony you desire, so recognize this infinite oneness and keep it in your awareness. You’ll know that the Way is simply the Way when you stop questioning why things have been as they have! Free of the fears that attend sole identification with this world of form, you can embrace your infinite nature. That is, you can love your foreverness, rather than dread that life ends with the death of your body. You, your body, and all of life are the result of the unwinding of this eternity.

  Here’s what Lao-tzu is relating in this 14th verse of the Tao Te Ching from his 2,500-year-old perspective:

  Use the technique of walking meditation to obtain knowledge of the absolute.

  Stay in a persistent state of awareness of the eternal principle that animates all of life. By seeing the unfolding of God in everyone you encounter—and in all of your identification with your ego-based world—you’ll come to be more like Him, and less like that which has tarnished your link to Him. This is the alignment that will bring you back into balance and restore the harmony that is your true egoless nature.

  Improve your vision by looking beyond what your eyes see.

  Whatever you gaze upon, ask yourself, What is the true essence of what my eyes reveal to me? Wonder about that magical something that awakens a tree in the springtime and places blossoms where frozen limbs existed only a few weeks before. Inquire, What is the energy behind the creation of that mosquito—or behind my every thought, for that matter? Do the same thing with everything you hear as well. Those sounds emerge from, and return to, a silent world—improve your hearing by listening for the “quiet sounds.”

  Awe and gratitude will grow when you embrace this forever principle. But even greater than this, you’ll awaken to new possibilities that include your own Divine magnificence. Your mind will free itself from a false identification with the transitory world, and you’ll see the eternal in all things. Yes, Lao-tzu tells you, you’ll transform your life by being in-Spirit. It is here that you will recognize what Rumi poetically offered some 1,500 years after Lao-tzu’s powerful words:

  Every tree and plant in the meadow seemed to be dancing, those which average eyes would see as fixed and still.

  I urge you to see the dance of “how things have always been” in the unseen, unheard, and untouched present.

  Do the Tao Now

  Take note of as much invisibleness as you can when gazing at a tree, a distant star, a mountain, a cloud, or anything else in the natural world. Embrace the principle that allows it to be, and then turn it inward and do the same for your own physical existence. It is the principle that expands your lungs, beats your heart, and grows your fingernails—live in this principle for ten minutes today and take note of how you feel connected to your Source of Being.

  15th Verse

  The ancient masters were profound and subtle.

  Their wisdom was unfathomable.

  There is no way to describe it.

  One can only describe them vaguely by their appearance.

  Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream.

  Alert, like men aware of danger.

  Simple as uncarved wood.

  Hollow like caves.

  Yielding, like ice about to melt.

  Amorphous, like muddy water.

  But the muddiest water clears

  as it is stilled.

  And out of that stillness

  life arises.

  He who keeps the Tao does not want to be full.

  But precisely because he is never full,

  he can remain like a hidden sprout

  and does not rush to early ripening.

  Living an

  Unhurried Life

  This 15th verse speaks
of ancient masters who enjoyed an indescribably profound level of cooperation with their world. Lao-tzu uses similes to dramatize the flexible and peaceful lives of these sages: Imagine crossing an icy winter stream that might crack at any moment, remaining cautious and watchful while at the same time alert to imminent danger. These descriptors paint a picture of those who live unhurriedly but are also in a profoundly aware state.

  Consider the two ways of being presented in this verse of the Tao Te Ching: first to meld into, and therefore become at one with, your immediate surroundings; and to then simultaneously stay so relaxed that your stillness allows all things around you to settle, resulting in a deep clarity. Keep alert and subtly aware, yet at the same time stay still within—not rushing or demanding, but totally in charge of your inner world. This passage of the Tao reminds me of these words of the Bible: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Ps. 46:10).

  The place of your origination is stillness, from which all of creation comes. Stay in a creative, simple state, which Lao-tzu describes as “uncarved wood,” symbolizing beginner’s mind and unlimited potential. Have a mind that’s willing to flow with life and be shaped by the eternal forces of the Tao. See yourself as all of these things mentioned in this 15th verse of the Tao: watchful, yet relaxed and peaceful; alert, yet unhurried and confident; yielding, yet willing to be still and wait for the waters to become clear.

  This verse reminds you that through nature, everything ultimately becomes clear. Your purpose is to stay in harmony with nature like the sprout hidden beneath the surface of the ground, waiting unhurriedly to emerge and fulfill its destiny. It cannot be rushed, nor can anything in nature. Creation takes place on its own timetable. The metaphor is clear here for you as well: You are unfolding in Divine order. All that you require will be provided in an unhurried fashion. Let go of your demands and trust in the perfect unfolding of the Tao. Be in a state of watchful gratitude and align with the Way.