Verse 6 - Living Creatively

[Eva Libre]

6th Verse

 

The spirit that never dies

is called the mysterious feminine.

Although she becomes the whole universe,

her immaculate purity is never lost.

Although she assumes countless forms,

her true identity remains intact.

 

The gateway to the mysterious female

is called the root of creation.

 

Listen to her voice,

hear it echo through creation.

Without fail, she reveals her presence.

Without fail, she brings us to our own perfection.

Although it is invisible, it endures;

it will never end.

 

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

I pay attention to my inner callings,

     and apply my own uniqueness,

to everything I undertake.


Do The Tao Now

 

Today, notice babies and small children.  Look for the mysterious feminine nature in little boys and girls who haven't yet become so attuned to cultural and societal demands that their true selves are hidden.  Can you see some whose inherent nature is intact ?  Notice what seems to be their natural character, or their gift from the Tao.  Then try to recall yourself as a child, when the natural, Tao-given self was unaware of the ego-self - the time before you believed that acquisitions or power were important.  Who were you ?  Who are you ?

 

Yes, today spend a few moments with a young child and contemplate his or her connection to the Tao and how it unfolds perfectly without any interference.

 

Source - Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life (Living the Wisdom of the Tao)

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

[Eva Libre]

Know that you are a Divine creation birthed, not by your parents,

but by the great spiritual Divine Mother, the Tao.

 

When you're in touch with the energy of your origin, you offer the world your authentic intelligence, talents, and behaviors.  You're co-creating with the you that originated in the Tao, with the very measure of your essence.

 

The Tao is not confused about what to create and how to go about it, as this is your legacy from the mysterious feminine.  Listen to your inner callings, ignore how others might want to direct your life energies, and allow yourself to radiate outward what you feel so profoundly and deeply within you.  There is a reservoir of talent, ability, and intelligence inside of you that's as endless and inexhaustible as the Tao itself.  It must be that way, because you are what you came from, and where you came from is this all-encompassing, endlessly creative Divine Mother, the mysterious feminine of the Tao.

 

Whatever you feel within you as your calling - whatever makes you feel alive - know in your heart that this excitement is all the evidence you need to have your inner passion become reality.  This is precisely how creation works . . . and it's that energy that harmonizes with the Tao.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Be creative - in your thoughts, in your feelings,

and in all of your actions.

Apply your own uniqueness to everything you undertake.

 

Whatever you feel compelled to do - be it write music, design software, do floral arrangements, clean teeth, or drive a taxi - do it with your unique flair.  Being creative means trusting your inner calling, ignoring criticism or judgment, and releasing resistance to your natural talents.  Reread this 6th verse, paying particular attention to these words:

 

"Without fail, she reveals her presence.

Without fail, she brings us to our own perfection."

 

Then choose to let go of the doubt and fear you've harbored within you regarding your capacity to harmonize with the creative power - a power that's not only greater than your individual life, but is life itself.

 

As the great 14th-century Sufi poet Hafiz reminds all of us:

 

Just sit there right now

Don't do a thing

Just rest.

 

For your separation from God,

From love,

 

Is the hardest work

In this

World.

 

When you reconnect to your Divine Mother, you'll be living creatively.  You will, in fact, be living the Tao !

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

Endlessly creating

Endlessly pulsating

The Spirit of the Valley never dies

She is called the Hidden Creator

 

Although She becomes the whole universe

          Her immaculate purity is never lost

Although She assumes countless forms

          Her true identity remains intact

Whatever we see or don't see

Whatever exists or doesn't exist

Is nothing but the creation of this Supreme Power

 

Tao is limitless, unborn, eternal -

          It can only be reached through the Hidden Creator

She is the very face of the Absolute

The gate to the source of all things eternal

 

Listen to Her voice

          Hear it echo through creation

Without fail, She reveals her presence

Without fail, She brings us to our own perfection.

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

The valley spirit dies not, aye the same;

The female mystery thus do we name,

Its gate, from which at first they issued forth,

Is called the root from which grew heaven and earth.

Long and unbroken does its power remain,

Used gently, and without the touch of pain.

 

From the Essays of Ralph Waldo Emerson - "Musketaquid" (poem), "The Transcendentalist" and "The Over-Soul"

 

In showers, in sweeping showers, the Spring visits the valley,

The miracle of generative force,

Far-reaching concords of astronomy.

 

Nature is transcendental,

     ever works and advances.

It is undefinable, unmeasurable,

But we know that it pervades and contains us.

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

6

FEMININE

 

Mother is the feminine principle.

She represents the yin, the anima,

the receptive, the earth.

Though she must at times take

the role of the masculine principle,

it is the feminine which gives

her power and from which 

she draws her strength.

 

She teaches her daughters to

respect their feminine nature.

She teaches her sons to respect

their feminine side and thus

all women.

 

The truly feminine mother

never cringes or defers.

Her strength is unshakable,

like the earth upon which we

walk but which can topple us

with a single deep breath.

 

[Eva Libre]

Tao Te Ching - The Classic Book of Integrity and The Way by Lao-Tzu

A New Translation by Victor H Mair
based on the recently discovered Ma-Wang-Tui Manuscripts

6
(50)

 

The valley spirit never dies -

          it is called "the mysterious female";

The gate of the mysterious female

          is called "the root of heaven and earth".

Gossamer it is,

          seemingly insubstantial,

          yet never consumed through use.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The Valley Spirit never dies, and we call it the "Mysterious Female".  The gate of the Mysterious Female is referred to as the "root of Heaven and Earth".  On and on, (1) with only apparent existence, it functions inexhaustibly.

 

The Valley Spirit [Gushen] is the nothingness in the center of the valley.  It has neither form nor appearance and is utterly free of contrariness or disobedience.  Lying low and unmoving, it maintains its quiescence and never weakens.  Even though all things are completed by it, we do not see its form, for this is the most perfect thing.  Lying low and maintaining quiescence, it cannot be grasped in order to give it [the Dao] a name, so the text refers to it as the Mysterious Female [Xuanpin].  (The root of Heaven and Earth, on and on, with only apparent existence, functions inexhaustibly.) (2)  The gate is the place from which the Mysterious Female comes.  Because it is rooted in that from which it comes, it is the embodiment of the [great] ultimate [yu ji tong it], and this is why the text refers to it as "the root of Heaven and Earth". (3)  Do you wish to say that it does exist ?  Well, we do not see its form.  Do you wish to say that it does not exist ?  Well, the myriad things are produced by it. (4)  Thus the text says, "On and on, with only apparent existence".  Not one single thing fails to be completed, yet it never tires.  Thus the text says, "it functions inexhaustibly".

 

Text, in Italics above, is Wang Bi's commentary.

The notes below, are from the translator, Richard John Lynn -

(deb's note - "section" is used for verse in these notes.)

 

(1)  "On and on" translates mianmian, which seems equivalent to the "on and on" (shengsheng) of Wang's commentary to section 14, first passage.  Both expressions describe unbroken continuity.

 

(2)  The sentence in parentheses has been proven to be an interpolation.  See Tao Hongqing (1860-1918), Du zhuzi zhaji (Reading notes on the philosophers), 6; Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 72-74; and Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 18 n. 6.

 

(3)  Cf. section 23, fourth and fifth passages.

 

(4)  Cf. Wang's commentary to section 14.

[Eva Libre]

From Stephen Mitchell - tao te ching - A New English Version

 

The Tao is called the Great Mother:

empty yet inexhaustible,

it gives birth to infinite worlds.

 

It is always present within you.

You can use it any way you want.

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy 

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

 

Empty yet inexhaustible,

it gives birth to infinite worlds.

 

Mind gives birth to infinite worlds - of this and that, loss and sorrow, good and evil.  It's complete from the beginning, and yet it's inexhaustible in the production of what isn't.  Believing what you think, you're carried off into the endless dramas of the self.

 

Until there's peace within you, there is no peace in the world, because you are the world, you are the earth.  The story of earth is all there is of earth and beyond.  When you're in dreamless sleep at night, is there a world ?  Not until you wake up and say, "I".  When the I arises, welcome to the movie of who you think you are.  But if you question it, there's no attachment, it's just a great movie.  Get the popcorn: here it comes !

 

I live in completeness.  All of us do, though we may not realize it.  I don't know anything; I don't have to figure anything out.  I gave up forty-three years of thinking that went nowhere, and now I exist as a don't-know mind.  This leaves nothing but peace and joy in my life.  It's the absolute fulfillment of watching everything unfold in front of me as me.

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 6 –

In this 6th verse, Lao-tzu refers to an eternal and indescribable force of creation that continuously gives birth to new life.  He tells us that this "mysterious female" energy continually reveals itself in perfection, and he invites us to an awareness of that voice of creation echoing throughout life in myriad ways.  "Living creatively" is how I describe existing with a conscious awareness of the presence of this feminine principle.

 

This mysterious female is always birthing, and the Tao Te Ching speaks of the gateway to her as the "root of creation".  It's telling us that we have the ability to tap into this unlimited field and co-create, or as I've said, live creatively through the Tao.  The never-dying formative energy is both our heritage and our destiny, functioning whether we're conscious of it or not.  What awareness accomplishes, through practicing the Tao, is to let us participate in the process - which in turn leads us toward the wholeness that is our ultimate earthbound task.

 

Although his writings are almost 3,000 years old, Lao-tzu is offering 21st-century advice here, with a message that's as timeless and never-ending as the Tao itself.  Words may change, but be assured that the feminine energy can and will bring you to your own perfection.  If you choose to be aware of the inherent creativity that resonates deep within you, where the invisible Tao sings the loudest, you'll assist the birthing of new ideas, new accomplishments, new projects, and new ways of understanding your life.

 

In Deng Ming-Dao's "365 Tao: Daily Meditations", the Divine feminine energy is equated with the sound of birds soaring and gliding over a vast landscape:

 

You can feel this in your life: Events will take on a perfect momentum, a glorious cadence.  You can feel it in your body: The energy will rise up in you in a thrilling crescendo, setting your very nerves aglow.  You can feel it in your spirit: You will enter a state of such perfect grace that you will resound over the landscape of reality like ephemeral bird song.

 

When Tao comes to you in this way, ride it for all that you are worth.  Don't interfere.  Don't stop. . . . Don't try to direct it.  Let it flow and follow it. . . . As long as the song lasts, follow.  Just follow.