Week 1, Day 4
On your mark, get set, go!
The start of any venture – a spiritual quest, a new career, a physical or educational path – can seem daunting. You have assigned yourself a challenge and by definition, challenges are not easily overcome. Perhaps even more daunting is the fact that the you that emerges at the end will be different than the current you and this is a door not everyone is ready to open because who you are now is what you know. It’s comfortable and it’s familiar, even if right now isn’t serving you particularly well.
The comfortable and the familiar are difficult to dismiss, however, Tao ensures that you never out of your comfort zone because Tao flows from the inside and Tao’s only demand is to know yourself. This may seem silly and cause you to think of course I know myself, but if you stick with this for the entire year, you will find yourself looking back at an entirely different you.
When we know ourselves, we know the life we are meant to lead and this puts us in a position to maximize our time and our talents.
Thought for the Day
I was still attached to every pleasurable thing in this world, and that sort of attachment is the cause of pain…
Gore Vidal
Creation
One thing that is important to note is that a spiritual commitment does not equal deprivation and you are not expected to live the life of an ascetic. You may, if you choose to and that is where your inner self is taking you, but Taoists set out on their Path expecting good things. You will have attainments and reach your summits.
What will change is the pleasure you want to attach yourself to. Instead of revels or avarice, you will find that life on your Path will become your wonder and the great pleasure of your life.
Our great challenge is to look inside ourselves and identify the talents we were born with. And it doesn’t matter what this is, either. We were issued assorted and varying talents at birth, and what interests me and what I have a knack for might well bore you. It’s the way the world is built. What matters is that we’ve identified what is deep inside us.