You might want to duplicate this advice of my teacher Nisargadatta Maharaj and post it conspicuously so that you can read it daily:
Wisdom is knowing I am nothing,
love is knowing I am everything,
and between the two my life moves.
And while you’re living, stay as close to love as you can.
5th Verse
Heaven and earth are impartial;
they see the 10,000 things as straw dogs.
The sage is not sentimental;
he treats all his people as straw dogs.
The sage is like heaven and earth:
To him none are especially dear,
nor is there anyone he disfavors.
He gives and gives, without condition,
offering his treasures to everyone.
Between heaven and earth
is a space like a bellows;
empty and inexhaustible,
the more it is used, the more it produces.
Hold on to the center.
Man was made to sit quietly and find
the truth within.
Living Impartially
The Tao does not discriminate—period! Like heaven and earth, it is impartial. The Tao is the Source of all, the great invisible provider. It doesn’t show preference by giving energy to some while depriving others; rather, the basic life-sustaining components of air, sunshine, atmosphere, and rain are provided for all on our planet. By choosing to harmonize our inner and outer consciousness with this powerful feature of the Tao, we can realize the true self that we are. The true self is our unsentimental sage aspect that lives harmoniously with the Tao. This aspect doesn’t view life in one form as more deserving than another, and it refuses to play favorites. Or, as Lao-tzu states, “He treats all his people as straw dogs.”
Lao-tzu uses this term to describe how the Tao (as well as the enlightened ones) treats the 10,000 things that comprise the world of the manifest. In Stephen Mitchell’s translation of the Tao Te Ching, he explains that “straw dogs were ritual objects, venerated before the ceremony but afterward abandoned and trampled underfoot.” In other words, Taoism reveres and respects existence impartially, as an ebb and flow that is to be revered and then released. With impartial awareness, the sage genuinely sees the sacredness within all the straw dogs in this ceremony we call life.
The 5th verse encourages us to be aware of this unbiased Source and, as a bonus, to enjoy the paradoxical nature of the Tao. The more rapport we have with the energy of the Tao and the more we’re living from its all-creating perspective, the more it is available to us. It’s impossible to use it up—if we consume more, we simply receive more. But if we attempt to hoard it, we’ll experience shortages ourselves, along with the failure of having even a wisp of understanding. The Tao and its inexhaustible powers paradoxically disappear when we attempt to exclude anyone from its unprejudiced nature.
The varied forms of life are illusory as far as the Tao is concerned, so no one is special or better than anyone else. This sentiment is echoed in the Christian scriptures: “[God] sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous” (Matt. 5:45).
Practicing impartiality is a way to incorporate the 5th verse of the Tao Te Ching into your life, and to practice its wisdom in today’s world. To that end, this is what I believe Lao-tzu was trying to impart to us from his 2,500-year-old vantage point:
Stay in harmony with the impartial essence of the Tao in all of your thoughts and all of your behaviors.
When you have a thought that excludes others, you’ve elected to see yourself as “special” and therefore deserving of exceptional favor from your Source of being. The moment you’ve promoted yourself to this category, you’ve elevated your self-importance above those whom you’ve decided are less deserving. Thinking this way will cause you to lose the all-encompassing power of the Tao. Organizations—including religious groups—that designate some members as “favored” aren’t centered in the Tao. No matter how much they attempt to convince themselves and others of their spiritual connection, the act of exclusion and partiality eliminates their functioning from their true self. In other words, if a thought or behavior divides us, it is not of God; if it unites us, it is of God. Stay centered on this Tao that resides within you, Lao-tzu advises, and you’ll never have a thought that isn’t in harmony with spirit.
Offer your treasures to everyone.
This is what the Tao is doing at every moment—offering to all, the entire spectrum of creation. Think of this as a simple three-step process:
1. Eliminate as many judgments of others in your thoughts as possible. The simplest, most natural way to accomplish this isto see yourself in everyone. Remember that you and those you judge share one thing in common—the Tao! So rather than viewingappearances, which are really nothing more than straw dogs, see the unfolding of the Tao in those you encounter, and yourcriticisms and labels will dissolve.
2. Remove the word special from your vocabulary when you refer to yourself or others. If anyone is special, then we all are. And if we’re all exceptional,then we don’t need a word like that to define us, since it clearly implies
