Tag Archive | the Tao

Don’t Force Anything

Most Force Is Excessive

Coming into this earth life and all that is known
That I seem not to know is my grand illusion.
I am here before coming. Never am I gone.
There’s nothing of nature to be acted upon.
Following then her course I’m a threat to no one.
All that is came before me, and I’m not alone.

It’s much easier to cut wood along the lines
That are with the grain – no against. Yet cutting wood
Does not go against nature if done mindfully.
The Tao is what is nature, a democracy
Self-contained and self- governed. The bad and the good
Coexist in a strange dance that no one designs.

I can’t force a lock open because it will break
Or the key will be broken off in the keyhole.
I must jiggle it until it wants to behave.
If it chooses not to, I will not be its slave.
In accordance with nature I give up control.
Peace of mind and contentment is what is at stake.

With the patterns existing I am subject to.
To flow with what creates me is to live in grace.
The contract between bees and flowers is the same
As the one between birds and worms. There is no blame
In what seems inappropriate. To know my place
Is to be one with nature in all that I do.