Everything is good building material

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 153, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

27.
A good traveler leaves no track or trace.
A good speech leaves no flaws.
A good reckoner uses no counters.
A well-shut door needs no bolts, and yet it cannot be opened.
A well-tied knot needs no rope and yet none can untie it.
Therefore the sage is always good in saving people and consequently no one is rejected.
They are always good in saving things and consequently nothing is rejected.
This is called following the light of Nature
Therefore the good person is the teacher of the bad,
And the bad is the material from which the good may learn.
One who does not value the teacher,
Or greatly care for the material,
Is greatly deluded although they may be learned.
Such is the essential mystery.

Some thoughts:

Originally, I felt resistance to this reading. It seemed to be about perfectionism. I took to heart the idea that “a good speech leaves no flaws”.

And yet, the piece concludes with a discussion of “the bad is the material from which the good may learn”.

The goal: arrive at a place where “nothing is rejected”.

My personal resistance is often in the those inner places where I am most judgmental, most willing to self-criticize, especially in personal practices: “my posture is wrong”, “I am not training right”, “this is not the way it’s supposed to be done”.

That which isn’t yet good enough, in this reading, “the bad”, is what we have to work with in order to make it better. In Jewish thinking since everything originates with the Divine, everything is potentially good.

I am working on forgiveness and mercy to myself. Smiling at my own tendencies to chastise myself. “Yes, I just saw myself as not fulfilling some abstract ideal, isn’t it funny that I do that? I get to have mercy on myself for wanting to be perfect and not achieving it.”

Wishing all of you self-forgiveness and joy on this First Day of Passover - may you all of a good holy day and a good week.

Find Something Solid and Move From There

Happy Monday.

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), pages 150-151, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

21.
The all-embracing quality of the great virtue follows alone from the Tao.
The thing that is called Tao is eluding and vague.
Vague and eluding, there is in it the form.
Eluding and vague, in it are things.
Deep and obscure, in it is the essence.
The essence is very real; in it are evidences.
From the time of old until now, its manifestations ever remain,
By which we may see the beginning of all things.
How do I know that the beginnings of all things are so?
Through this Tao.

Some thoughts:

There is something unchanging, eternal, at the heart of meaning in the universe. When we meditate, pray, or commune with that deep mystery, we reach and don’t reach in order to find and not find that mystery.

The experience may change us but it will not change the universe directly.

When we change ourselves internally and return to the world of doing with others, then we may take our changes to our community and change the world.

That which is eternal, that which is the beginning of all things, the unchanging part, may become the place of reference from which we might move our souls in a better direction, and then move our hearts, minds, and actions, in a better direction, and then, humbly and with community move the world together.

Every moment may offer us a new stepping stone, a new solid place, from which we can take the next step forward.

This seems to be a nice overlap between the Tao and Kabbalah.

Wishing everyone a meaningful and motion-filled week.

Loneliness and Meaning

Shavua Tov. Wishing everyone a good and healthy week.

Here are my thoughts today - the meditation text is below.

The loneliness in this passage speaks of both abandoning and being abandoned, and finding meaning in difficulty. It feels a lot like Psalm 23:4:

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for Thou art with me”.

The authors of both the Psalm and the Tao feel abandoned in that place of loneliness and still they feel connected with the most profound ideas of meaning. So this passage in the Tao concludes:

“I alone differ from others,
And value drawing sustenance from Tao.”

I too have felt that loneliness and often find comfort in the Psalms. Even alone, we are not alone.

Another thought: “Abandon learning…” seems to be difficult for anyone who spends any part of our lives trying to expand our minds.

This connects to Martin Buber’s I and Thou - Buber advises against the accumulation of experiences. The idea that we can gather things and tick them off a list from which we would derive meaning, in Buber’s writings, leads to diminish our very nature. Meaning arises from encounters and learning and we must figure out how to continue to be open to growth and not constrained by what we’ve experienced or learned before.

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), pages 149-150, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

20.
Abandon learning and there will be no sorrow.
How much difference is there between “Yes, sir,” and “Of course not”?
How much difference is there between “good” and “evil”?
What people dread, do not fail to dread.
But, alas, how confused, and the end is not yet.
The multitude are merry, as though feasting on a day of sacrifice,
Or like ascending a tower at springtime.
I alone am inert, showing no sign of desires,
Like an infant that has not yet smiled.
Wearied, indeed, I seem to be without a home.
The multitude all possess more than enough,
I alone seem to have lost all.
Mine is indeed the mind of an ignorant person,
Indiscriminate and dull!
Common folks are indeed brilliant;
I alone seem to be in the dark.
Common folks see differences that are clear-cut;
I alone make no distinctions.
I seem drifting as the sea;
Like the wind blowing about, seemingly without destination.
The multitude all have a purpose;
I alone seem to be stubborn and rustic.
I alone differ from others,
And value drawing sustenance from Tao.

Aiming for better self-rule

Before meditating today I read this:

[From The Lao Tzu (Tao-Te Ching) as found in Wing-Tsit Chan (translator and compiler), A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, (1963), page 148, slightly adapted by Jonathan Freirich]

17.
The best (rulers) are those whose existence is (merely) known by the people.
The next best are those who are loved and praised.
The next are those who are feared.
And the next are those who are despised.
It is only when one does not have enough faith in others
that others will have no faith in them.
[The great rulers] value their words highly
They accomplish their task; they complete their work.
Nevertheless their people say that they simply follow Nature.

My thoughts:

Chinese philosophy focuses a lot on the nature of good leaders and I find myself often thinking that that translates well into Jewish ideas of being a  mensch, a person of integrity, or a righteous person, a tzadik - that is a person worth striving to be like.

In this reading the power of doing well without recognition seems quite explicit. In doing what we are responsible for, and doing it well, we contribute to a more smoothly running world and in so doing, get less attention not more. Thinking of the Jewish version of this idea we can connect to Pirkei Avot’s idea that we do good because it is good, not for any reward.

Both versions seem pretty countercultural right now.

I am grateful to Keith Kristich and his prayer centering group for the space to meditate with them today.

Also wanted to share that twenty minutes of meditation isn’t always easy. Today I was not comfortable, shifting around to find my better posture, legs fell asleep and ended up stretching for a while. This is not an easy practice for me and I work to be forgiving to myself for not being a “pro”.

A beautiful prayer from the heart from Rabbi Jack Bloom

Elohai N'tzor l'shoni mei-rai...

My God, Keep My Tongue From Evil, My Lips From Lies.
Help me ignore those who slander me!
Open my heart to Your Torah, so that I may pursue Your Mitzvot!
Frustrate the designs of those who plot evil against me.
Make Nothing Of Their Schemes!

A Prayer From The Heart, For The Heart.
From The Soul, For The Soul.
The Quintessential Personal Prayer.
Here, the slanderers, the plotters of evil are not found among those who share our planet.
They are "aliens",who subsequent to psychological and/or emotional pain, have taken up residence in us.
Similar to bacteria or viruses, though we host them, they are not us!  Our psychological immune system, impaired by psychic violence, though struggling valiantly, is unable to reject them.
In moments of vulnerability,the "aliens", though not us,- denigrate, demean and alienate us.
They tell us that we are not good enough, that we are frauds, that there is no room in the world for the likes of us, that we never do anything right, and on and on.
Though masquerading in our voice, and mimicking our style they are not us!  The evidence being that their attack leaves us diminished and alienated.  Created in the image of God, nothing that is authentically us, would leave us demeaned, diminished, and alienated!
So we pray for Torah, compassion, holiness, and Torah yet again;
teaching and reminding us that we are created b’Tzelem, in the Image, and that the aliens are most assuredly not us. 
And that peace. be the sign of our HEALING.
     

Jack
JackHBloom.com
jackhbloom@aol.com