Personal growth: The counter-energy of carrying the past October 4, 2017
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Living in the Now.Tags: A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle, ego management, life, living in the past, philosophy, psychology, self-actualization, writing
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One of the ways we can obscure our true selves and thereby block our advance to more complete self-actualization is through our tendency to burden our thought processes with the weight of the past.
If we are not careful, over time, we can add so many individual internalized concerns to “the voice in our heads” that it seems as if we are making our self-improvement journey while wearing 25-pound shoes on our feet.
This tendency of not living in the Now, in the present, can negate our efforts to reach our personal development potential.
In his book, A New Earth, Eckhart Tolle tells an illustrative story:
Two Zen monks were walking in the country and came across a young girl who could not cross a road covered in deep mud, for fear of ruining her silk kimono.
One monk picked the girl up and carried her to the other side, and the monks walked on in silence.
Finally, after five hours, the other monk could not restrain himself: “Why did you carry that girl across the road? We monks are not supposed to do things like that.” The other monk replied, “I put the girl down hours ago. Are you still carrying her?”
Tolle suggests we should try to imagine what life would be like for someone like that irritated monk, who cannot seem to “let go internally of situations, accumulating more and more ‘stuff’ inside…”
“Stuff” such as grievances, regrets, hostility, and guilt.
The lingering “stuff” inside eventually becomes our dominant intellectual and emotional “story,” a story that can take over our perception of ourselves, and become a negatively limiting identity, Tolle believes.
In A New Earth Tolle seeks to advise us how to extricate ourselves from this trap.
— Dennis Mellersh
Tao Te Ching: Expectation and disappointment March 22, 2016
Posted by Dennis Mellersh in Tao Te Ching.Tags: disappointment, ego management, expectations, Lao-tzu, personal development, self-actualization, Tao Te Ching
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By Dennis Mellersh
The Tao Te Ching tells us that we will be at peace if we become perfectly at-one with the Way of the Tao.
Consider this passage from section 55 as interpreted/translated by Stephen Mitchell*, which describes the power of the Tao Master:
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old.
The pursuit of achieving a mindfulness which is without expectation is part of the overall message of the Tao Te Ching, and it reinforces this concept throughout its pages.
It does this in various ways, including this passage from section 9, that illustrates the paradox of logical expectation producing unintended or unforeseen negative results:
Fill your bowl to the brim
and it will spill.
Keep sharpening your knife
and it will blunt.
The remedy?
Do your work, then step back.
The only path to serenity
Note: In this short post I have quoted a source more extensively than I would normally in order to give readers an idea of the simplicity or elegance of Mitchell’s translation and its ability to succinctly present complex ideas. It’s a book that can be referred to again and again to bring fresh clarity in understanding the way of the Tao.
* Tao Te Ching, A New English Version, Stephen Mitchell, HarperPerennial, 1991
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