Choose an area to concentrate on making a difference.
Don’t entertain doubt about your impact on the world; instead, develop a vision for Earth and convince yourself that you are perfectly capable of contributing to this vision, whether it’s grandiose or small. See a world without hatred, disrespect, or violence; where the environment is respected and cared for; and where cancer, AIDS, starvation, child abuse, weapons of all kinds, or any other detrimental or demeaning scenarios disappear.
The anthropologist Margaret Mead addressed this idea in the following observation: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.”
Realize how much your life matters.
It’s said that when a butterfly flaps its wings, that energy flows thousands of miles away. Therefore, everything you think and do extends outward and multiplies. Live your life knowing that the difference you choose to make is toward wholeness, not destructiveness. Even if no one sees or acknowledges it, an act of unkindness contains energy that impacts our entire universe. And a silent blessing or thought of love toward others contains a vibration that will be felt throughout the cosmos.
William Blake’s vision expresses this idea:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
Be conscious of how very much you matter to all of creation.
Do the Tao Now
Dedicate a day to extending kind thoughts and acts toward your family, your community, your country, and the world. In your family, encourage someone who’s struggling with low self-esteem. In 54th Verse your community, pick up litter and recycle it without judgment. In your country, spend a few moments in silent prayer, sending loving energy to those who are in positions of power—then do the same for the world, including any so-called enemies.
55th Verse
He who is in harmony with the Tao
is like a newborn child.
Deadly insects will not sting him.
Wild beasts will not attack him.
Birds of prey will not strike him.
Bones are weak, muscles are soft,
yet his grasp is firm.
He has not experienced the union of man and woman, but is whole.
His manhood is strong.
He screams all day without becoming hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.
To know harmony is to know the changeless;
to know the changeless is to have insight.
Things in harmony with the Tao remain;
things that are forced grow for a while,
but then wither away.
This is not the Tao.
And whatever is against the Tao soon ceases to be.
Living by
Letting Go
Perhaps you’ve observed people who seem to get all the breaks, appearing to be impervious to the onslaughts that wreak havoc in many lives. For example, do you know someone who seldom if ever gets sick, in spite of spending the flu season in close contact with people who are coughing and sneezing? How about those who emerge unscathed in the middle of a crime spree? You might say that these lucky few seem to have guardian angels that protect them from the provocations of the symbolic “deadly insects,” “wild beasts,” and “birds of prey” mentioned in the opening lines of this passage. But Lao-tzu knows that these men and women are simply in harmony with the Tao, just as some individuals appear to have the right people show up in their lives at the right time, while others seem to have a knack for making money materialize just when it’s needed most.
Lao-tzu says that we should look to infants, who haven’t yet taken on the ego belief that they’re separate from their originating Source. Consequently, they have what could be considered “magical” powers: They can scream all day and never lose their voice like a screeching adult would. Even with undeveloped muscles, they can fashion a firm grip. Furthermore, babies are pliable and virtually immune to harm from a fall that would break the bones of a grown-up. All of this is called “perfect harmony” by Lao-tzu.
Verse 55 of the Tao Te Ching invites you to realize that what you call luck isn’t something that randomly happens—it’s yours for life when you decide to live by letting go. You attract the cooperative power of the Tao when you release the need to control your life. So change your thoughts and see how your life changes to a very fortunate one indeed.
Let go and exist in harmony with the Tao in order to build up your immune system and be “lucky” about resisting disease and illness. I know that letting go for protection sounds paradoxical, and I suppose you could think of it like that. But try seeing it as a way of allowing life’s natural rhythm to flow unimpeded through you. Living by letting go means releasing worry, stress, and fear. When you promote your sense of well-being in the face of what appears as danger to others, your alignment with your Source frees you from pushing yourself to act in a forceful manner. Lao-tzu reminds you here that “things that are forced grow for a while, but then wither away.”
Attain the protective nature that’s alluded to in this powerful verse, and realize the changeless with these insights for the world you’re living in today:
Visualize yourself as indestructible.
Activate an inner picture that will carry you through perceived dangers. In this visualization, remove the image of your physical body and instead see the part of you that’s as constant as a spirit or a thought. This is your essence, and it’s incapable of being harmed in any way. From this perspective, you’re not threatened by anything, from criminals to cancer, from
