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Tao Te Ching Verse 48

translated by John C. H. Wu

Learning consists in daily accumulating;
The practice of Tao consists in daily diminishing.

Keep on diminishing and diminishing,
Until you reach the state of Non-Action.
Do nothing, and find that nothing is left undone.

To win the world, the Sage must renounce all.
If one still has private ends to serve,
One will never be able to win the world.

Photo by Bankim Desai on Unsplash

How to Gain by Losing:

Is there something that is throwing you off balance right now?  Do you feel like things were ok last week or even yesterday, but today, maybe you’re not feeling as content and tranquil as you’d like?

If so, I’d invite you to stop for a moment when it’s safe and convenient, and come into awareness of yourself, your surroundings.  Come into the awareness of your thoughts and feelings.  Come into the awareness of your innate connection with your inner self and with the Tao.

Ask the Tao, ‘please show me what is causing me to feel this way.’  Then, knowing that the request is granted as soon as you think or say it, appreciate and thank the Tao for providing.  If you can do that, the hard part is over!  Go about your day and allow little things around you to come into your awareness, and see where they point.

Remember that the thing that is causing you to be off center is usually something that is the closest to you, which is why it’s difficult to see.  It can be relationships that you think are in a ‘good’ status.  It can be silent ambitions that only you know about.  If you’re open and patient, you will become aware of it.

Once you do, set aside some time to sit with this realization.  I like to sit with a blank piece of paper.  I write the cause down in the middle, then start exploring why.  Why am I feeling this way?  Why is this important to me to feel this way?  How do I think this thing, if I get it, is going to give me emotional security, financial security, prestige, or intimacy?  

When I have answered these questions thoroughly, I find that I’ve got a bead on that little gremlin.  The next thing to do is to take responsibility for him.  I ask myself:  what am I doing to feed this ambition?  How am I running counter to the principles of the Tao?  How am I inserting my selfishness into this situation?  What am I doing or not doing to cut off my trust in the Tao to provide?

I know I have searched and explored enough when I have written everything I can think of and a feeling of stillness comes over me.  Sometimes, the thought, ‘rest’ flashes in my mind.