If I had to summarize what I’ve learned from Taoist and Buddhist philosophy it’s been a deeper understanding of how to both let go and connect with life. It’s a kind of yin and yang approach to everything.
In the Tao te Ching the advice is to yield with difficulties, reduce clutter, create space, let go. So over the years I’ve tried to apply this to my thoughts, emotions, goals, expectations and opinions, especially when these are creating fear, anxiety or unhappiness.
This approach has helped me to let go of stress, flow with problems, accept situations that were difficult, and to find deeper peace.
On the flip side the great masters of the East offer wonderful advice on how to connect more closely with the world around us, with nature, with creative activities and people, with the great flow of all existence. They emphasize how we are each a part of Nature, unique sentient expressions of our Universe.
As we let go of our limited human thoughts and obsessions, we fall back gracefully into communion with the Source of all things, connecting directly with the Universal field of life and energy that has brought us into being.
This is who we really are, the sages and masters tell us. We are this great dance of creative awareness, relationships and activity. Breathing in deeply and mindfully we pull the outer world into us, breathing out slowly we let it go.
Connect and let go…
Carrying body and soul
and embracing the one,
Can you avoid separation?
Attending fully and becoming supple,
Can you be as a newborn babe?
Washing and cleansing the primal vision,
Can you be without stain?
Loving all men and ruling the country,
Can you be without cleverness?
Opening and closing the gates of heaven,
Can you play the role of woman?
Understanding and being open to all things,
Are you able to do nothing?
Giving birth and nourishing,
Bearing yet not possessing,
Working yet not taking credit,
Leading yet not dominating,
This is the Primal Virtue.
~Lao Tsu
Tao te Ching
“You are not IN the universe, you ARE the universe, an intrinsic part of it. Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself. What an amazing miracle.” ~Eckhart Tolle
Related:
* Systems Thinking – Rediscovering Nature’s Paradigm * The Universe is One Harmonious Whole * How We Participate in the Creative Life of the Universe * Paradigms are Made for Shifting * How Einstein Saw the World * Glimpses of a Creative Universe * Shifting Paradigms: Aligning with the Wisdom of Nature * How Wisdom Awakens Us From Our Dreams * Everything is Interconnected & Inseparable *
Creative by Nature 
Connecting is easy, letting go is a bit difficult 🙂 have a peaceful weekend.
🙂
Reblogged this on Advayavada Buddhism.
Thanks John!
Thank you for this clarity and perspective today.
Most welcome. Glad to be helpful Val.
I congratulate you on the quality of your articles and have started following your blog. However one small suggestion if I may. Many bloggers with a blog format like yours insert a “read more” tag after the first few lines of the post so that a user can scan through more of your posts and then read the ones in detail that are the more interesting. Look for the symbol in your WP editor toolbar with two solid bars separated by a dashed line.
Really love this post, thank you.
Too good. Do let me know if I can be of any support in fullfilling this larger purpose of life.
WOW!!!
What a great article/vision.
That you for making sense and connecting so many things together.
It really clarifies my own path in the labyrinth of reality/ living.
Greatly appreciated!!!
((( 🙂 )))
“Ultimately you are not a person, but a focal point where the universe is becoming conscious of itself.” Love that!
I love those Lao Tsu words. They bring clarity and awareness to all of us, reminding us to not question the things we see and perceive like newborn children. Along with being open and emotional like women. Thank you for this beautiful article!
Zaria
Pingback: Reading List – First Quarter 2016 | A Life Less Busy
As a focal point where the universe becomes miraciously aware of itself, I as a deeper understanding of the universe than the universe itself, dicide how to act. And I am responsible for that freely chosen and freely made dicidion how to act. Not the universe. I appreciate Lao Tse and Eckhart Tolle, but I feel free to think different on some details, thank you for your post. Roy
I love Tao.love nature ,love myself.