Tao Te Ching - Chapter 23

Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.
If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.
Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
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Take a good look at that last line "...and everything will fall into place." That line puts the whole passage together, because that's what this chapter is getting at. In any ideal, any theory or reality, in any picture..you've got to have all the pieces together if you're going to get a complete look at what you've got. Something can't be complete when all of it's parts aren't present and when you apply that theory to human beings and the lives we lead, it can cause a bit of a stir. This is especially true when it comes to the intangibles of your average human being. Namely, the mental, the emotional and the spiritual.

Into every life, a little rain must fall..and just like the old addage goes, into each of our lives, there's going to be moments of extreme sadness, hardship and loss. There's no way around it, folks, that much is certain. But who we are is dictated by how we meet those moments in life. There's always going to be good times, even if they might be few and far in between. There's always going to be the good aspects of living, yet no matter how much we might want these moments to last forever, sooner or later, they have to give way to another bout of difficulty. This is inevitable. And I can't stress that enough, this is LIFE. You can't ball up the minute things get hairy, you can't run away to the sanctity of your own little lair as the first sign of sadness, you can't spend your life afraid to be hurt. Because if you do, you're trying to deny a vital part of your existence, a vital part of who you are. And this passage is reminding you that the easiest, if not only true way to deal with this is to accept it. To open yourself up to the fact that there's going to be times in your life that will completely and undeniably suck. The most we can hope for is that it's not always something as earth shattering as the loss of a loved one or a severe bout of heartache. But we have to be willing to accept these things into our lives if we want to be able to grow as human beings BECAUSE of the experience.

I've tried to look at things with an open mind. And yeah, there's been times when the sorrow just took me over and left me a quivering mass for days on end. That can't be helped, but I always tried to get myself to a point where I could stop and ask myself "What did this experience have to teach me?" or "Why was this necessary for me to endure?" I do that because I firmly believe that these moments serve a very specific purpose and that's to strengthen us where we're weak, to give us the will to endure the more trying times that are coming down the tracks toward us. I know, it sounds depressing, but it's just as much an equal part of life as the fun times filled with happiness and laughter and good cheer. When you stop and notice that a cloud has a funny, maybe familiar sort of shape to it, you ever stop and ask yourself why that happened to catch your eye? Ever wonder why it made you smile, even if just for a microsecond? For me, the answer has always been because it was a moment that helped enrich my life. If I happen to see what looks like a clown humping a three-headed dog in the clouds, I'm going to stop and laugh about it. That's just how my humor works and whether I'm aware of it or not, it does it's part to enrich my life just a little bit...maybe even give me the smile I needed on that day. But you have to be willing to see it, you have to be open to the limitless possibilities that a moment like that can bring before you can reap the rewards that may be had.

And that's what this passage is trying to get across, you have to open your mind to ALL the possibilities and allow yourself to be able to feel what the moment has to offer you. I realize this is often easier said than done, but give it a try folks...there may be more to the world than you want to believe. Open yourself to the world and trust your instincts. Let your natural responses take over and guide you through the moment "...and everything will fall into place."