Sometimes it is important to just sit quietly, to relax your body, and to clear your mind. Close your eyes, breathe deeply, and imagine yourself in a peaceful, beautiful place. Remain still and quiet, like this, for an extended period of time. Feel the breeze, listen to the sound of the water, immerse yourself in the silence. Let go of all of your thoughts, and connect with the deep inner peace which resides within you. It is always there, waiting for you. It never goes away. We just need to be quiet enough to find it. It is there, right now, ready to envelope you, to comfort you, to nourish you.
“Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.”
“Down through the ages, there has always been the spiritual path. It’s been passed on – it always will be – and if anybody ever wants it in any era, it’s always there.”
“The child learns to speak, not because it has learned teachers, but because it lives with those who know how to speak.”
– Lao Tzu
The great Taoist Master Lao Tzu was telling us not only how a child learns to speak, but he was also giving us a powerful metaphor for so many other things. The human being learns the Tao in this same way: not from great teachers, but from living among those who already know the Tao. This is also how each one of us learns how to truly live well: how to think, act, and speak with compassion and common sense, how to create things of value, how to find inner calm and peace, how to cultivate healthy relationships with others, how to live with enthusiasm and authenticity, and how to give and receive help and knowledge with an open heart. We learn these things from living among those who already know how to do them. And, perhaps most importantly of all, the human heart learns how to love and to be loved, in this manner, as well. We learn this by living in a family, in a community, and in a society that already understands how to do this. Once we realize this fact, it becomes incredibly clear why it is of such vital importance for each one of us to strive to preserve and cultivate these values in our own lives, in our own families, and in our own communities. We each form a vital link in the chain toward a better and more beautiful world.
“There are only three things that a man really wants to do, all his life; and these are 1) to find his way to his God, his Morning Star, 2) to salute his fellow man, and 3) to enjoy the love of the woman who has come the long way with him.”