By not being irritating, you’ll be received with respect. By making every effort to avoid controlling the lives of others, you’ll be in peaceful harmony with the natural order of the Tao. This is the way you nourish others without trying. Be like water—which creates opportunities for swimming, fishing, surfing, drinking, wading, sprinkling, floating, and an endless list of benefits—by not trying to do anything other than simply flow.
Let your thoughts float freely.
Forget about fighting life or trying to be something else; rather, allow yourself to be like the material compound that comprises every aspect of your physical being. In The Hidden Messages in Water, Masaru Emoto explains that we are water, and water wants to be free. The author has thoroughly explored the ways in which this compound reacts, noting that by respecting and loving it, we can 8th Verse literally change its crystallization process. If kept in a container with the words love, thank you, or you’re beautiful imprinted on it, water becomes beautiful radiant crystals. Yet if the words on the container are you fool, Satan, or I will kill you, the crystals break apart, are distorted, and seem confused.
The implications of Emoto’s work are stupendous. Since consciousness is located within us and we’re essentially water, then if we’re out of balance in our intentions, it’s within the realm of possibility that our intentions can impact the entire planet (and beyond) in a destructive way. As our creator, the eternal Tao, might put it, “Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men.”
Do the Tao Now
Drink water silently today, while reminding yourself with each sip to nourish others in the same life-flourishing way that streams give to the animals and rain delivers to the plants. Note how many places water is there for you—serving you by flowing naturally. Say a prayer of gratitude for this life-sustaining, always-flowing substance.
9th Verse
To keep on filling
is not as good as stopping.
Overfilled, the cupped hands drip,
better to stop pouring.
Sharpen a blade too much
and its edge will soon be lost.
Fill your house with jade and gold
and it brings insecurity.
Puff yourself with honor and pride
and no one can save you from a fall.
Retire when the work is done;
this is the way of heaven.
Living Humility
As the eternal Tao is in a continuous state of creating, it knows precisely when enough is enough. Deep within ourselves, we sense that this organizing principle of unconditional supply knows when to stop, so we don’t need to question the quantities that the Tao brings forth. The creative Source is beautifully balanced in the principle of humility elucidated in this 9th verse of the Tao Te Ching.
The Tao has the capability to generate everything in amounts that would stupefy an observer, yet its gentle humility seems to know when there are enough trees, flowers, bees, hippos, and every other living thing. Excess is eschewed by the Tao. It doesn’t need to show off its unlimited capacity for creating—it knows exactly when to stop. This verse invites us to be in spiritual rapport with this characteristic of the Tao.
Cramming life with possessions, pleasures, pride, and activities when we’ve obviously reached a point where more is less indicates being in harmony with ego, not the Tao! Living humility knows when to just stop, let go, and enjoy the fruits of our labor. This verse clearly analogizes that the pursuit of more status, more money, more power, more approval, more stuff, is as foolish as honing a carving knife after it has reached its zenith of sharpness. Obviously, to continue would just create dullness, and it is obvious that a keen edge represents perfection.
Lao-tzu advises us to be careful about amassing great wealth and storing it away. This practice contributes to a life spent keeping our fortune safe and insured, while at the same time always feeling the need to pursue more. He counsels us to be satisfied at a level that fosters living with humility. If wealth and fame are desired, we must know when to retire from the treadmill and be like the Tao. This is the way of heaven, as opposed to the world that we live in, which is addicted to more.
We can heighten our awareness that advertising is primarily designed to sell products and services by convincing us that we need something in order to be happy. Analysts might tell us that the economy is failing if it isn’t continuously growing, but we can realize that excessive growth, like cancer, will ultimately destroy itself. We can witness the results of overproduction in the gridlock on most highways: It now takes longer to go from one side of London to the other than it did before the invention of the automobile! We also see this principle at work whenever we shop. I call it “choice overload”—pain pills for backaches, menstrual cramps, headaches, joint pains, in the morning or at night, in a capsule or liquid or powder? And this is true whether we’re purchasing toilet paper, orange juice, or anything else.
I believe that Lao-tzu sends the following modern advice from his ancient perspective:
Come to grips with the radical
concept of “enough is enough”!
Make this commitment even though you live in a world addicted to the idea that one can never have enough of anything.
