Verse 8 - Living in the Flow

[Eva Libre]

8th Verse

 

The supreme good is like water,

which nourishes all things without trying to.

It flows to low places loathed by all men.

Therefore, it is like the Tao.

 

Live in accordance with the nature of things.

In dwelling, be close to the land.

In meditation, go deep in the heart.

In dealing with others, be gentle and kind.

Stand by your word.

Govern with equity.

Be timely in choosing the right moment.

 

One who lives in accordance with nature

does not go against the way of things.

He moves in harmony with the present moment,

always knowing the truth of just what to do.

 

Contemplation/Meditation Verse

I live in accordance with nature,

          and therefore, never go against

                    the Way of Things.

Do The Tao Now

 

Drink water silently today, while reminding yourself with each sip to nourish others in the same life-flourishing way that streams give to the animals and rain delivers to the plants.  Note how many places water is there for you -- serving you by flowing naturally.  Say a prayer of gratitude for this life-sustaining, always-flowing substance.

 

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

by Dr Wayne W Dyer

 

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

When you're free to flow as water,

you're free to communicate naturally --

information is exchanged,

and knowledge advances in a way

that benefits everyone.

 

Be careful not to assign yourself a place of importance above anyone else.  Be receptive to everyone, particularly those who may not routinely receive respect, such as the uneducated, homeless, or troubled members of our society.  Go to the "low places loathed by all men", and have an open mind when you're there.  Look for the Tao in everyone you encounter; and make a special effort to have acceptance, gentleness, and kindness course through you to others.

 

By not being irritating, you'll be received with respect.  By making every effort to avoid controlling the lives of others, you'll be in peaceful harmony with the natural order of the Tao.  This is the way you nourish others without trying.  Be like water -- which creates opportunities for swimming, fishing, surfing, drinking, wading, sprinkling, floating, and an endless list of benefits -- by not trying to do anything other than simply flow.

[Eva Libre]

Advice from Dr Dyer -

 

Let your thoughts float freely.

 

Forget about fighting life or trying to be something else; rather, allow yourself to be like the material compound that comprises every aspect of your physical being.  In "The Hidden Messages in Water", Masaru Emoto, explains that we are water, and water wants to be free.  The author has thoroughly explored the ways in which this compound reacts, noting that by respecting and loving it, we can literally change its crystallization process.  If kept in a container with the words love, thank you, or you're beautiful imprinted on it, water becomes beautiful radiant crystals.  Yet if the words on the container are you fool, Satan, and I will kill you, the crystals break apart, are distorted, and seem confused.

 

The implications of Emoto's work are stupendous.  Since consciousness is located within us and we're essentially water, then if we're out of balance in our intentions, it's within the realm of possibility that our intentions can impact the entire planet (and beyond) in a destructive way.  As our creator, the eternal Tao, might put it, "Water of life am I, poured forth for thirsty men".

[Eva Libre]

Masaru Emoto - Water is Life

[Eva Libre]

From Vimala McClure - The Tao of Motherhood

8

ACCEPTANCE

 

Water benefits us without taking

from us.  It cleanses us, nourishes

us, and calms our restlessness.

 

So is a mother to her child.  From

the moment of birth, a child's

well-being is her only concern.

 

A wise mother cleans and discards

the child's waste without comment.

The child's excrement, its tears,

its rages, are all allowed to

be and discarded without emotion.

 

A wise mother does not judge

her child.

 

[Eva Libre]

From Tao Te Ching - The Definitive Edition by Jonathan Star

 

The best way to live

          is to be like water

For water benefits all things

          and goes against none of them

It provides for all people

          and even cleanses those places

          a man is loath to go

In this way it is just like Tao

 

Live in accordance with the nature of things:

Build your house on solid ground

Keep your mind still

When giving, be kind

When speaking, be truthful

When ruling, be just

When working, be one pointed

When acting, remember - timing is everything

 

One who lives in accordance with nature

          does not go against the way of things

He moves in harmony with the present moment

          always knowing the truth of just what to do

 

[Eva Libre]

Sarah McLachlan - River

[Eva Libre]

From Richard Grossman - The Tao of Emerson

From James Legge - The Texts of Taoism, 1891

 

The highest excellence is like that of water.

The excellence of water appears in its benefiting all things,

          and in its occupying, without striving,

          the low place which all men dislike.

Hence its way is near to that of the Tao.

 

The excellence of a residence is in the suitability of the place;

          that of the mind is in abysmal stillness;

          that of associations is in their being with the virtuous;

          that of government is in its securing good order;

          that of the conduct of affairs is in its ability;

          and that of any movement is in its timeliness.

 

And when one with the highest excellence

Does not wrangle about his low position,

          no one finds fault with him.

 

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

 

Justice is the rhyme of things;

Trade and counting use

The self-same tuneful muse.

 

Water was the beginning of all things.

It is in that same liquid state

          that substances unite to

          and identify themselves with organized bodies.

 

The aim of the wise man will always be

          to set his time on such a key as he can hold,

          to bring his life level with the laws of the mind,

                    not the body.

[Eva Libre]

Alan Parsons Project - Time

~ lyrics

 

Time, flowing like a river
Time, beckoning me
Who knows when we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river
To the sea

Goodbye my love, Maybe for forever
Goodbye my love, The tide waits for me
Who knows when we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river (on and on)
To the sea, to the sea

Till it's gone forever
Gone forever
Gone forevermore
Goodbye my friends, Maybe forever
Goodbye my friends, The stars wait for me
Who knows where we shall meet again
If ever
But time
Keeps flowing like a river (on and on)
To the sea, to the sea
Till it's gone forever
Gone forever
Gone forevermore

 

[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

8
(52)

 

          The highest good is like water;

          Water is good at benefiting the myriad creatures

                but also struggles

          to occupy the place loathed by the masses.

Therefore,

          It is near to the Way.

 

          The quality of an abode is in its location,

          The quality of the heart is in its depths,

          The quality of giving lies in trust,

          The quality of correct governance lies in orderly rule,

          The quality of an enterprise depends on ability,

          The quality of movement depends on timing.

 

Now,

          It is precisely because one does not compete

               that there is no blame.

[Eva Libre]

Lynn's - Daode jing of Laozi

 

The highest good is like water.  The goodness of water lies in benefiting the myriad things without contention, while locating itself in places that common people scorn.

 

What common people scorn is the lowly.

 

Therefore it is almost exactly like the Dao.

 

Whereas the Dao has no physical existence, water does have existence.  thus the text says "almost exactly like".

 

Goodness in position depends on location; goodness in heart/mind depends on profundity; goodness in association depends on benevolence; goodness in words depends on sincerity; goodness in government depends on order; goodness in affairs depends on ability; goodness in action depends on timeliness.  And it is only by avoiding contention that no blame occurs.

 

This states how, like water, one should always be in resonance thus with the Dao. (1)

 

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) The translation here takes a slight liberty with the text, which literally reads: "This states how water is always in resonance thus with the Dao."  The wording of the sentence differs among various editions, and some actually read "This states how man always should be."  However, the alternate reading of "water" (shui) for man (ren) has been rejected by most textual scholars (see Lou, Wang Bi ji jiaoshi, 21 n. 3, and Hatano, Roshi Dotokukyo kenkyu, 77).  Because the context strongly suggests that a three-part analogy is involved -- as water resembles the Dao, so should human action emulate water -- I have rendered it here accordingly. 

 

[Eva Libre]

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

 

The supreme good is like water,

which nourishes all things without trying to.

It is content with the low places that people disdain.

Thus it is like the Tao.

 

In dwelling, live close to the ground.

In thinking, keep to the simple.

In conflict, be fair and generous.

In governing, don't try to control.

In work, do what you enjoy.

In family life, be completely present.

 

When you are content to be simply yourself

and don't compare or compete,

everyone will respect you.

 

From Byron Katie - A Thousand Names For Joy 

- Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are

 

 

The supreme good is like water,

which nourishes all things without trying to.

It is content with the low places that people disdain.

 

Clear mind, the supreme good, is like water.  It is transparent, it sparkles, it flows everywhere without obstruction.  It is beautiful and profound, the nourishment that feeds all things internally, without trying to.

 

A clear mind is by its very nature in a place of humility.  It loves the low places.  It prefers being in the audience to being on stage (though when people put it in the spotlight, it loves that, too).  It lives at the feet of everything else, because it is everything else.  In its gratitude at being everything beautiful, it bows at the feet of the master we call stone, bush, beggar, ant, grass.  It finds itself as the bird soaring overhead and doesn't know how to fly and notices that it's flying anyway.

 

When the mind is clear, life becomes very simple.  I have the thought to stand up and do the dishes.  I notice a sense of profound excitement as the body rises with this thought.  How childlike it is as it moves to the kitchen, to the sink.  I turn the handle, experience the water on my hands, pour some liquid soap onto a sponge.  Amazing.  It's not ever about doing the dishes, until I hold one and see it change from crusted or sticky to wet and soapy, to shiny, to dry, so that it can serve again.  Everything changes.  I never know what anything is going to be.  Without believing any thought of a future, there's no way of knowing what is me and what is the plate, the soap, the water, the world of bubbles and shine.

 

The clear mind, loving the music of itself as it moves from chair to sink, notices that even though what's left of thoughts is ravishingly beautiful, it also isn't true.  It's the music, the sound track, meaningless forever,  as life appears to happen.  Who would wage war against a sound track ?  What craziness could oppose such simplicity ?  The last judgment: body rises and moves to sink, soap, water, shine.  It's a beautiful story.  It's all there is to life.  It is the only life.

 

I'm happy to be this sixty-three-year-old woman.  I love that I weigh 160 pounds, I love that I'm not any smarter than I am, I love that my skin is getting wrinkled and loose, I love that some mornings I'm almost blind and there's just a haze of world and I can barely see where I'm going.  I love where my hands have been put, and I love how I am breathed and positioned and angled.  I love what I see now as I look out the window, one solid picture: trees, sky, lawn, brick chimney, bougainvillea, HOUSE FOR SALE sign, hedge, canal, ducks, and I can't separate one from the other.  I love it that as I walk upstairs my steps are not too fast, not too slow, not too far apart, I love how in their own wisdom my feet step on the perfect portion of floor, in exactly the right rhythm.  How miraculous their movement is !  My hand reaches out to the banister on the staircase, its support, without thought or reason.  And again the footsteps, the hand moves, the head looks up: a rainbow on my wall.  Nothing could be better than this moment.

 

Why would I be you or someone else when we all can walk up a staircase, we all can stand and move in our own way ?  No one has more or less opportunity to be himself, to love and be content with himself.  Why would I compare or compete ?  Comparing is nothing more than believing the story that a past would invent as a future.  It's so much simpler to be what I am.  (As if I could be anything else.)

 

[Eva Libre]

Dr Dyer's Essay for Verse 8 -

 

The Tao and water are synonymous according to the teachings of Lao-tzu.  You are water; water is you.  Think about the first nine months of your life after conception: You lived in, and were nourished by, amniotic fluid, which is truly unconditional love flowing into you . . . flowing as you.  You are now 75 percent water (and your brain is 85 percent), and the rest is simply muscled water.

 

Think about the mysterious magical nature of this liquid energy that we take for granted.  Try to squeeze it, and it eludes us; relax our hands into it, and we experience it readily.  If it stays stationary, it will become stagnant; if it is allowed to flow, it will stay pure.  It does not seek the high spots to be above it all, but settles for the lowest places.  It gathers into rivers, lakes, and streams; courses to the sea; and then evaporates to fall again as rain.  It maps out nothing and it plays no favorites:  It doesn't intend to provide sustenance to the animals and plants.  It has no plans to irrigate the fields; to slake our thirst; or to provide the opportunity to swim, sail, ski, and scuba dive.  These are some of the benefits that come naturally from water simply doing what it does and being what it is. 

 

The Tao asks you to clearly see the parallels between you and this naturally flowing substance that allows life to sustain itself.  Live as water lives, since you are water.  Become as contented as is the fluid that animates and supports you.  Let your thoughts and behaviors move smoothly in accordance with the nature of all things.  It is natural for you to be gentle, to allow others to be free to go where they're inclined to go, and to be as they need to be without interference from you.  It is natural to trust in the eternal flow, be true to your inner inclinations, and stick to your word.  It is natural to treat everyone as an equal.  All of these lessons can be derived by observing how water, which sustains all life, behaves.  It simply moves, and the benefits it provides occur from it being what it is, in harmony with the present moment and knowing the truth of precisely how to behave.