Day 9
Welcome to the 9th day of our journey.
What to do when others do not offer you their unconditional love? When they oppose to you? When they betray you?
You need to develop an unshakeable heart. Be humble and flexible like the reed. Go with the flow. And the gates of unconditional love will open for you.
I will share with you a beautiful tale from Chuang Tzu, often known as Zhuangzi. He was an influential Chinese philosopher who lived around the 4th century BC during the Warring States period, a period corresponding to the summit of Chinese philosophy.
The tale is called “Going with the Flow”. Here it is:
One day, Confucius was looking down into a gorge where a great waterfall crashed down to a huge roiling chasm so violent that no fish, no tortoises, no alligators could survive there. Suddenly, he noticed an old man appear to tumble over the falls into the maelstrom. Confucius and several of his disciples ran downstream in hope of saving the old man. They were shocked when they found him strolling merrily along the bank, singing to himself. Confucius approached the old man and asked him how he survived such a plunge into the river.
The old man replied: “Oh, that, that’s simple. I merely entered the water at the center of its whirl. I let myself flow along with it, not trying to impose my will upon it, then I left when it whirled the opposite way. It is all completely natural to me.”
Confucius asked: “What do you mean by that? How can it be natural to you?”
The old man replied: “Well, I grew up on dry land, so I am at home upon it. At the same time, I also grew up by the river, so I am at home in the water. I don’t really know how I do these things, I just do them. Therefore my success is assured.”
Do not try to analyse, judge, or control. Do not fight, strive, or argue. Let it go.
Know your strengths, know your weaknesses. Be humble and flexible like the reed. As Confucius reminds us: “The green reed which bends in the wind is stronger than the mighty oak which breaks in a storm”.
Be like this old man in the waterfall. Just go with the flow.
It is not what happens to us that matters, but how we react to it. In pursuit of the Tao, every day something is let go.
With the greatest love,
Master Laure