Reading the Flow of Life
Reading the flow of life
The Daoist philosopher Chuang Tzu, writing in the forth century BC, advised people toward a certain stillness and quietness of intention: “to get into the bird-cage without setting off the birds off singing.”
What an image: to come into harmony with life in such a way that desire itself is precise and full-hearted - not loud and bullying in its grasping. Desire with peace and and nectar in it’s heart.
The world offers so many ways of closing the gap between ourselves and what we want. Britney Spears weighed in on the issue in one of her songs: “You want a hot body? You want a Maserati? You better work, bitch”. Of course, it’s common to see life as an implacable force that imposes fortune or misfortune without any regard for what we feel we might want or deserve. If we see the world this way, it only makes sense to approach life as if effort and clenched jaw, crow-bar effort is the only thing that will win the day. In other words, “you better work, bitch”.
Writing a few hundred years before Chuang Tzu (and a few thousand years before Britney), another Daoist philosopher wrote the Dao te Ching. For 84 chapters, Lao Tzu offers up in countless ways the invitation to become still and notice the flow and currents of life:
The Master observes the world but trusts his inner vision. He allows things to come and go. His heart is open as the sky.
Of course, advice like this is difficult to fully relate to in this world of paying rent and pursuing dreams. The I Ching, another literary treasure from China, splits the difference between profound non-attachment and ambition. Many of its passages coach people in elegantly pursuing their desires. It does so by guiding a person toward an intimate, active collaboration with life. For anyone who feel abandoned by grace… the I Ching shrugs and says “just pay more attention to what life is offering”.
The I Ching’s counsel is different from the standard Western approach in the way that it teaches a person to become sensitive to to the energy archetypes through which life shapes our inner and outer worlds. In this approach, pursuing a desire doesn’t involve unrelenting wilful effort applied at all times. Instead it suggests, that sometimes the moment calls for reflection: maybe sitting still until one gains some awareness of the inner obstacles blocking outer success. Or the moment might call for alert patience: waiting for the signal that something long dormant is now finally stirring and coming alive. A student of this approach learns to become agile and responsive to small nuances in the way life moves.