This is what Lao-tzu was conveying to you more than 2,500 years before your birth:
Have an unquenchable thirst for the intangible and enigmatic force that supports all life.
Communicate with the Source regularly: Ask for its guidance, and meditate on its sacredness. The more you practice benevolent reverence for the invisible Tao, the more you’ll feel connected to it. The presence of a known connection with the Tao will release you from the worry, stress, and anxiety that are ego’s way of looking at the world. While others around you may stay focused on their pursuit of wealth, fame, and power, you’ll notice it and smile compassionately as you practice being in a state of appreciation for “the life breath of all things,” including yourself. You’ll feel safe and secure knowing that you’re in a Divine partnership with the all-knowing, all-providing Tao.
I suggest that you simply take a moment or two several times a day to say aloud, “Thank You, God, for everything.” Make this your own personal respectful ritual. In fact, just a moment ago I said 21st Verse these very words: “Thank You, God, for allowing these words to appear, supposedly from my pen. I know that the Source of everything, including these words, is the elusive and intangible Tao.”
Memorize the final two lines of this verse and silently recite them when needed.
Repeat these two sentences: “How do I know the ways of all things at the beginning? I look inside myself and see what is within me.” Doing so will remind you that the Tao comes from the truth that’s inside of you at all times. Give up trying to persuade anyone else of the correctness of your vision—when they’re ready, their own teachers will surely appear.
Here’s a concluding thought on the elusive nature of the Tao, written by Hafiz many centuries after the death of Lao-tzu:
If you think that the Truth can be known
From words,
If you think that the Sun and the Ocean
Can pass through that tiny opening called the mouth.
O someone should start laughing!
Someone should start wildly laughing—
Now!
Do the Tao Now
Today, become conscious of the force that allows your every movement. For five minutes in your meditation, stay in “the gap” between your thoughts and notice the elusive but omnipresent invisible Source that allows you to speak, hear, touch, and move. (I’ve created a meditation that can assist you in this process, and it’s included in my book Getting in the Gap.)
22nd Verse
The flexible are preserved unbroken.
The bent become straight.
The empty are filled.
The exhausted become renewed.
The poor are enriched.
The rich are confounded.
Therefore the sage embraces the one.
Because he doesn’t display himself,
people can see his light.
Because he has nothing to prove,
people can trust his words.
Because he doesn’t know who he is,
people recognize themselves in him.
Because he has no goal in mind,
everything he does succeeds.
The old saying that the flexible are preserved unbroken is surely right!
If you have truly attained wholeness,
everything will flock to you.
Living with
Flexibility
Having lived by the ocean for many years, I’ve observed the beauty and majesty of the tall palm trees that grow at the water’s edge, often measuring 30 or 40 feet in height. These stately giants are able to withstand the enormous pressure that hurricane-force winds bring as they blow at speeds up to 200 miles per hour. Thousands of other trees in the huge storms’ paths are uprooted and destroyed, while the stately palms remain fixed in their rooted selves, proudly holding sway over their otherwise decimated domain. So what is the palm trees’ secret to staying in one piece? The answer is flexibility. They bend almost down to the ground at times, and it’s that very ability that allows them to remain unbroken.
In this 22nd verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-tzu invites you to embrace a similar quality of elasticity. Begin to sense the oneness that is the Tao supplying your resiliency and grounding, helping you withstand the storms of your life as pliantly as the supple palm tree. When destructive energy comes along, allow yourself to resist brokenness by bending. Look for times you can make the choice to weather a storm by allowing it to blow through without resistance. By not fighting, but instead relaxing and going with all that confronts you, you enter “the Tao time.”
This verse implies an added benefit of wholeness, which attracts everything to you. That is, if you want abundance, knowledge, health, love, and all the other attributes that personify the Tao, you need to be receptive to them. Lao-tzu instructs that you must be empty in order to become filled, for attachments keep you so restricted that nothing can enter your already-filled self. Being empty in this sense means not being full of beliefs, possessions, or ego-driven ideas, but rather remaining open to all possibilities. This is in keeping with the nameless Tao: It doesn’t restrict itself to a particular point of view or a singular way of doing things; it animates all. Similarly, the flexible person is open to all possibilities—there’s nothing for him or her to prove because the Tao, not ego, is in charge.
Awareness of the Tao nurtures flexibility, and removing your rigidity creates an atmosphere of trust. When you live from the perspective of being able to say, “I don’t know for certain, but I’m willing to listen,” you become a person whom others identify with. Why? Because your flexibility
