Personal Tao Musings

Have Been Out for a few days

2009-07-10T01:46:00.000-07:00

I am holding space for retreat and I have also been in the middle of some important national health care initiatives. I will be back later this weekend...

So swirls life... just have to tumble to what comes, even occasionally skipping poetry and musing.

Skipping is skipping, to always be enjoyed as such, even if it is a busy skipping.

:)

Namaste!

Site Updates

2009-07-07T16:43:00.000-07:00

IE 8 is out and of course I have to fix some of the CSS on the main Personal Tao site.

Clean CSS in IE is an exercise of Zen patience... I think it's a computing crime to have to put conditional based CSS code in your browser... Chrome and Firefox are both awesome however.

If anyone finds anything not right or strange layout issues on my site please leave me some feedback so I can fix it. Also please look at the color layout and let me know if it looks acceptable. I redid the orange color to be a bit more mellow and played with the color scheme a tad. The problem is different monitors display colors with variations so I appreciate feedback. While it looks nice on my screens I know from experience colors don't always translate well.

Thanks!

Namaste

The Care Free Weight of Being.

2009-07-06T11:30:00.000-07:00

In Taoism we teach not to limit oneself to measurement or definitions.... to live in potential.

Some days that isn't easy, when waking up .. feeling your body ache, comparing yourself between the moment and yesterday. Soreness and memory showing us our change...A hangover not from alcohol but of relationship...

I woke up today sore, tired and a bit in a fog of funk. I know many ways to dispel such feelings. But this morning, I was in no rush to stoke my bodies energy with Qi-Gong, nor jump into the clear pools of the river or some other "cure" of being...

Some days I let the weight of "now" countless years pushing from the past. So much time has passed...so many connections of life swirl in memories of mind and aches of body.

IN Taoism we often live what others would consider a carefree lifestyle... but that is only how others see our lifestyle of release... It seems carefree. It isn't... It is of kindness and respect, since to truly release is also to acknowledge one's essence. To embrace those connections , greet the past and open the future... We might live now... but we are also human. Truly human

Which means at times, we pay homage to the aches of the soul. Later today I will be eternally young again only becuase I took the time to respect these connections. Later to release pains fluttering like prayer flags that acknowledge we are alive becuase we respect our connections to life itself.

Namaste

Student Questions: Reading About The Tao

2009-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

Here is today's student conversation about learning Tao

I did take out a copy of the Tao Te Ching from the library and I've been reading through it slowly. Actually, a question just came to me... I don't feel that reading and thinking about the Tao is really getting me any closer to where I want to be. I feel like I'm just adding more thoughts and words and labels when I should really be freeing myself from them.

Firstly: The Tao Te Ching is poetry. Not to be read as a book. But glanced at when whim strikes you.

If you would burn a holy book in front of most people of most religions: they would fight you .. to save the word...

If you would burn the Tao Te Ching in front of a senior Practitioner of Taoism they would just turn around and leave you to your actions... In fact they might at the right times help burn the book. Since life is werd... not the word being werd. But when you say word right, and you hear it and live it.. then you can capture werd.

That's Tao...

When the cultural revolution happened in China in the 1960's... and the red guard came to the Taoist monks demanding their "holy books" to get burned. The Taoists just gave the books and shrugged... since the lessons were not in the books, but in the heart.

It's how you live life that defines Tao, not all will make sense at once, nor will it all be seemingly relevant, but books such as the Tao Te Ching are there to help open up new angles to look at life. But they cannot truly define you and if you define yourself to the book, you then limit yourself..

We change, our life shifts and meaning traces with our life... The point being.. when you read something, trying to get at an absolute truth, to define something absolutely... well you end up trapping oneself in those walls of definition...

People get trapped in definitions, words, labels which is perfect since that is what you now ask about...Taoism is about the freedom to live as your heart beats...

Secondly and more importantly to this question.

We live in cycles

At times we need to intake like a breath: ideas and concepts...

These are the times you read such books like the Tao Te Ching

At times we exhale, to live and act...

These are the times to jump and live fully. To define the world not to definition but to your actions, trial and error, play and testing what the world is from your own hearts perspective

Your question tells me that you are currently exhaling into your life: so put the book down, jump into a smile and play.

Look at your life and look to see if you are inhaling of your nature or exhaling out your being...

Then dance accordingly.

Intaking and Releasing into one's life.

This is the Tide of the Tao

Namaste

Daily Surprise

2009-07-02T11:43:00.001-07:00

I love being surprised with an sharp intake of breath by something unexpected.

This morning I surfed into this spot.

The Temppeliaukio Church is a neat work of engineering and spirit mixed together!

No need to say words, it just made me smile seeing something unexpected and yet so beautiful in my morning.

Namaste

News from Europe

2009-07-01T18:10:00.000-07:00

A friend sent me this news story

Europe is discovering to treat a person isn't to "correct" them into actions, but rather help them accept life.

The Lesson to be learned: we can't save the world, but if we listen and talk to others... oh my... it certainly can create a better world...

Namaste

The Enlightenment Business

2009-06-29T11:51:00.000-07:00

Too many people are pushing to save others, offering enlightenment... So many screaming "read my book for enlightenment" or etc etc...And it seems to be intensifying a bit of late.

It drives me batty that people push for personal enlightenment by shoving it. Or that people rush into buying into the latest Fad for mass enlightenment. I don't understand at times why people can't see that enlightenment by consumption, leaves no enlightenment to be had. Like a meal, while it might taste good in the moment, it leaves your spiritual belly empty pretty quickly, since you must then rush out to buy/sell into more...

Enlightenment is never a commodity, it's a heart embraced moment of connection... that isn't taught but released into.

Oh sure you can teach basics of release... but in the end: release is a personal step into faith for each person.

Namaste

Force

2009-06-28T17:49:00.000-07:00

By using force, the government of Iran is forcing its people to react against it...

In spite of all the threats, the overwhelming show of force and the nighttime raids on private homes, protesters still flowed into the streets by the thousands on Sunday to demonstrate in support of Mr. Moussavi.

The only solution is to accept it's own people: unless the Iranian government accepts it's own people, the people will be forced to reject it's government...

Namaste

Pause

2009-06-26T14:24:00.001-07:00

Times pass, Surf is up and so goes life...

Pause in it once in a while :) to move it along.

Namaste

Taoism

2009-06-24T17:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a quote from Dr. David Eisenberg of Harvard Medical School

The Chinese medical system is based primarily on Taoism, which claims that it's not just your physical well-being that determines your health, but also your behavior toward others. The doctor was part priest, part martial artist, part scholar, and part empirical scientist. But most of all, he was a teacher. And he not only taught you about diet and exercise, but also guided you psychologically and spiritually to become a better person, because that would shape your health. The doctor tried to teach people the best way to live their lives.

When a westerner asks me what is it that I do.

I say: Help a person live to kindness and heart.

But the work I do is as Dr. Eisenberg states. It's a blending of many elements, but most especially teaching in a way to help a person discover kindness towards their own life.

Namaste

Sharing in Neda's Time

2009-06-23T11:22:00.000-07:00

It doesn't feel real anymore. Watching the news, so many stories designed to confuse and take us away from our own humanity.

Yet Neda touches us to heart: to show us fully our humanity.

We each exist as potential, a dance of life. It's hard not to feel your own heart stop when seeing Neda's potential cut down by the dictatorship in Iran.

This is a bullet to all of our hearts.

On Friday, The Iranian leader said blood would be on the demonstrators hands. I can't see how such leaders can wash the blood from their own hands from their own sins. Yet they do, leaving it to the people, us, to wash away by our tears.

She wasn't a demonstrator, only an innocent person shot down by an inhumane government.

None of us are innocent when any government dictates how you live and die.

Taoism teaches very clearly that government should let it's people be free. To live to the Tao is to live to full potential of one's life.

We are one, connecting out to share. I share Neda's story since we are Neda.

No words can express this story since it's of life and passings. Acceptance to Neda's family and friends. Acceptance to our own life. To give us strength to witness, acknowledge and truly live freely.

We might live a world away, but it's for us to still stand up here, as it's together we become humanity otherwise divided we fall, one by one as innocent bystanders.

How should we remember her?

When the protests started, before she died she said: If she were to be killed now, she would desire that all people, live to freedom.

To honor her, is to acknowledge our connection and live to freedom.

Namaste

Student Questions: Not enought time...

2009-06-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

Here is today's Student Question:

I know that there are many lessons still to learn, many achievements still to realize and many goals still unfulfilled. It’s just that time IS getting less and less.

The answer:

Time is not less and less...

Time represents relationship

The truth is we are eternal, we live without end yet within our lives fully.

You only have less time if you don't connect out in life. The goals are not the reason nor purpose, just a guiding light to help us find direction. The real purpose, the real ful-fillment, is how we travel in the path towards goals, how we reach out and share connections in our life.

Do this... that is enjoy the path and share in kindness.

Kindness to yourself and others...
not only to others...and
not only to oneself

People seemingly always forget to be kind fully and only live to kindness in half steps.

Most people I work with forget to be kind to themselves... and that's often the main reason there never seems to be enough time, since if you forget yourself... you never have time to complete yourself.

If time is relationship and if you never connect to your heart: you then miss the most centering relationship of all and hence lose time as you get older.

So take the moment to be within your heart. In the rush of reaching out, trying to finish goals... we can lose touch to our own heart also.

A strange contradiction but true.

Namaste

Next Steps

2009-06-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

Steps of faith can be the hardest to recognize as such since the mind thinks it can resolve everything... but not all steps are in mind.. Just as not all steps are of faith either.

We are human, some steps are to mind (free will), some steps are to heart (spirit / body) and some are into faith (To Acceptance, to Allah / God, within Tao, )...

This is the beauty of being human we are a mixture of all three

Namaste

Potential is releasing

2009-06-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

This is the one image that will stay in my mind from Iran.

Not of the conflict but of honest people trying to save each other towards a better place.

The future is facing off

For the first time in months I now feel the waves of potential that have been building up ... releasing... This is just the start.

People look for landmarks, events that define transition from one time to the next great time of being...

This is it...

In Taoism we find the Tao not defined to the times... but to the heart of living now...

If these are to be great times, it's becuase we live it as great times...

The choice doesn't belong to politicians, leaders nor media...

It is ours, the vote isn't one based upon paper ballot nor bullets, but rather actions of the heart here and now...

Live it well , live it truly and then the times bend to that since we are the Times.

Namaste

Student Questions: How to Just Live?

2009-06-19T10:53:00.000-07:00

Today's question from a student is this

How do I just live sometimes it is hard.

Over the years I have answered this many times. Sometimes we have to answer the same question from many angles, becuase the issues come in from many angles... I have been getting many variations to this question of late from emails, as a result many of my blog entries have been writing about this. If this answer repeats parts of recent previous blog entries, I must apologize, but at times it's worth repeating the better answers to remind students how to live well.

Ironically living is hard becuase: Human nature requires challenge. Look at how many people live. No matter how well people have it, you discover people often still find some complaint, to purposefully (but most often unconsciously) do things in a way to make their life harder. If you do this, catch yourself and flip it around with acceptance of the good parts also to balance out life.

The Meaning of life is how you live, not the destination, to live well is a question of style. We each have a manner which fits to our core being.

Body: To be young, is to explore life, try things out , test and poke about. Make sure you have an exercise routine, martial arts, walking, jogging, yoga, qi gong... something just to keep a person in shape and exploring your body.

Mind: We need something for our mind to explore.... poetry, writing, reading, play, art, music...

Spirit: Take mind, body mix it up, and then in motion we discover our spirit to be alive and invigorated .... Mixing the mind with body together to understand then accept what it is to be our nature.

This isn't about answers ... but people seek "an answer" thinking that the answer is what fills life... Discover it is connection that fills life, a smile shared, laughter joined, friendship explored...

Don't make life hard, that's honestly optional... Society makes life hard to keep people running so they don't notice that society is a rigged game...

Take the time to discover what life is ... from your eyes, not from what society or others tell you it should be.. but to simply what feels right. This is how the smile leads you to explore heart.

Play with this a bit as you have time, don't worry about getting it right, It's not about what is right, it's about what fits inside and you can only figure that out in playing the role of You... in due course you will be a star and it's simply enough to be, not to shine for others but to bask in the warmth of your own heart, connections and whimsy of what may happen... Then in a few decades you take all of that experience and merge it into something new... but that's for later... right now take the time to experience play of being you.

Even when being a Master, when you have peace and calmness of being, being human doesn't go away.

And that's good since...

that harder edge is a safe place to climb as it keeps us ...

Human

Namaste

Stay true to Heart

2009-06-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

To those in Iran right now. I wish not peace but Inner Strength to hold true.

I extend hope to those standing up: stay the course of heart.

Flowing with life means, once committed, to move with full presence and prevent half steps from shattering more life later.

People believe peace is the goal.. Peace and conflict are of the same coin. Push peace too hard and you then end up resolving in conflict. No this isn't about peace, it's about true acceptance of being human and living to one's heart. The ruling elite have lost touch to the heart of the people. Simply stated: the people are standing up to reclaim their hearts.

The goal is inner acceptance, a step beyond peace or conflict. Iran is at a cross roads seemingly.

But the cross road isn't between peace and conflict, remember they are the same coin. The cross road is between continuing to pay the high price of peace/conflict or moving beyond that to truly create something one step beyond that pattern.

Picture of protester saving policeman

How to do that? Well that is the trick indeed. Not to be directed from the outside. Instead, right now people are uniting following together. The protesters don't want conflict, they want resolution to a more equal society, they want acceptance of their lifestyle from their leaders, not dictates, nor morality, nor something measured out and priced to the same old coin that we were taught was the only way...

It's a step at a time, but if this stays true to the resolve of accepting personal humanity, It can turn out to be very surprising indeed, perhaps something new, not seen before.

Addendum 1: Mir Hossein Mousavi is beginning to get labeled now as "the Gandhi of Iran." Of course, he isn't Gandhi, but in the now represents the ideal of Gandhi - Acceptance

Addendum 2: Examples of how what is happening
is different.... This isn't about peace nor do they want conflict, people want acceptance and to move on with a better life. They are resisting government attempts to create more violence, yet the overall response of actions are not peaceful either. This is all about Acceptance of Humanity. Acceptance can seem to be peace, but as shown over the past few days people are more than open to use non peaceful ways to respond (note: non peaceful doesn't mean conflict either...).

The Tao teaches us the answer is not to be defined before it happens, the answer needs to evolve in real time in response to the heart of being...alive and present. It's possible for all sides to change course to something better.

Addendum 3: Further Shifts where groups
join together in release.... This isn't about how we expect a revolution to occur, by its very nature: revolution is a time of fundamental change. This isn't the past... It's real time: As the saying goes the revolution will not be televised... but it sure the hell will get twittered and connected all the same.

This is a lesson for the world, as communication opens up to be more and more equally shared: eventually it will blossom out and people will stand up to establish a social structure more balanced to acceptance over dictates.

Addendum 4: Ayatollah Khomeini takes the stance of a
morally corrupted dictator.... In his statements today, Ayatollah Khomeini is pushing people to violence. So know any blood that happens will be directly on his hands, his soul. He is trying to force the situation into Conflict to obtain Peace. He isn't standing behind truth of Allah, he is acting as a Dictator. He is repeating the patterns of the Shah and has become a reflection of the Shah. We just reached the turning point, this wont become something new, instead Khomeini has set the stage for history to repeat itself. If not today very soon, the people in Iran will over turn a dictator again. The pattern has been set. Ironically it is the leader Ayatollah Khomeini who has defined how he will fall. It's a shame. If he rose to acceptance, he could have averted conflict and been part of creating something new and better.

I wish Inner Strength to everyone in Iran standing up to be in their life fully right now. If you hold true, there is a chance.

Namaste

Words

2009-06-16T11:49:00.001-07:00

Words are both my bane and love at times.

I just love how poetic some are: like nigh.

Nigh to release towards heart,
while tides of potential peak
times ebb back
Atlantis circles to sight...

Its just a cool word: nigh

But words being models and representations: words are also my bane... people take them too seriously, attach and judge life to them. So many people literally build prisons and dungeons based solely on the words bantered about. As a Taoist teacher, I work with patience as students trip over the words rather than releasing into the poetry of no meaning and multiple meanings at once.

We are taught to define words (Webster's greatest achievement is his greatest sin also) and that is the trap: as in once we begin to define those pesky words we think that reflects back to define our own life, our own shape.

The Tao is the Tao...
No definitions please,
release into the Tao simply as...
discovering how to swim
with the poetry of your life.

Words will cascade down waterfalls
Don't tumble after such meaning
But do dive into it also
coming back up wet
refreshed with most ironically
new meanings each and every time.

It's nigh time indeed to release.

Namaste

Knowing Release

2009-06-15T12:14:00.000-07:00

Looking to the sky

And we find so much to wonder upon.

Looking into the heart

And our life unfurls as the flower.

It all completes in circle. The path of knowledge takes us to the stars, the path of release opens up our heart.

Knowledge and Release meeting, merging so we may then discover our life.

Namaste

Growing up

2009-06-14T12:14:00.000-07:00

I watch Mina and our friends children grow. Our friends are staying the next few weeks with their children. It's all mixing around and swirling about with the children, the children finding their shape in life as they play.

The illusion is to think we do grow up: the limitations we place on ourselves becomes the very definition used to make ourselves into an adult, with fixed jobs, habits and duty.

On a side note: have people noticed yesterday : Saturday June 14th... was a particularly stressful day? Just doing an informal poll. The past few weeks have been busier than normal and yesterday seemed to be particularity at odds to calmness.

Namaste

Power

2009-06-11T18:00:00.000-07:00

Power represents the ability to define oneself.

That power comes out from how we act, To a Taoist it becomes clear we should treat others with respect through kindness. That reflection of respect will have the power to allow others to treat us back with respect.

However, this isn't a Taoist culture, instead it appears this current culture uses fear instead.

To live in fear based society, is a culture of legalism which was a particularly brutal time in China's history. People end up finding power by defining others in order to define themselves. Hence in reference to my last post, we find police who end up tasering grandmothers, since they have been taught to use fear to define and control the world around them. The bantering of Tasers about actually ensures that they get used and used wrongly much of the time. Since they are not being used as defensive devices but rather as "weapons" to project power. Using fear to drive actions of others.

Yet the real problem isn't about rogue policeman: it's a far larger problem of the society using fear as the source of power. History in Legalism has already shown: this tact doesn't work and leads to a corrupted culture.

I don't want to keep repeating my mantra: don't live to fear, live as yourself.

Instead I will simply state: be aware, make your own choices and I wish each of you the best of life.

Good Night and Good Luck... and always remember to stand up for your truth.

Namaste

Police State and Disrespect to Elderly

2009-06-10T11:17:00.000-07:00

It says much, that police instead of using patience, reason or kindness, instead quickly resort to tasering grand mothers.

Having helped people on the street I have seen first hand how the system works. People wouldn't believe the stories of police brutality, that the homeless experience. This video is only one of many that show how a culture of fear and abuse truly behaves. But showing truth is never enough:

What this video reveals is nothing new...

Don't think: oh it's worse now than before. No it isn't worse, it's just easier to bring to light abuse of power.

What's new is we can more quickly reveal truth to each other.

What anyone does with truth is always a personal choice. But I personally believe it's a time to live kinder not to fear and not to use power in forcing others.

You see showing the truth isn't enough, since people also have to act to truth to make a difference. Such action is as simple as living kinder now.

The system can change since the system is us...

Don't let a few force you to live to fear. It's time to be strong but kind in how we live life now.

Namaste

Art in Life

2009-06-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

My friend Peony just shared this link to Japanese man hole covers.

Art is the expression of exploring our souls. We live in search and ful-fillment of that soul. While the soul might be the core of who we are... it's how we live that expresses and reveals the soul.

So why not create beauty in even the mundane, as art... rather than so busily rushing on by...

I am not looking for answers, I can give dozens of reasons why people rush past life rather than embrace it as art. These answers only distract a person away from releasing into their nature.

So instead of looking for answers, experience this truth: It's more important to occasionally pause, to embrace, to take the time to express beauty in: life, your work and how you move in living. Be it a carpenter, office assistant or even iron monger: it's always possible to add a little flare of style in how you connect to the world... to always reflect back, to illuminate nature & your inner self further than you might guess.

Namaste

The Tide of Tao

2009-06-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

I once wrote that the Tao is a Tide of Tides...

In Taoism we practice living to potential. As the tide of Tao shifts: Potential increases. That increase of potential can be felt in your life. Everything starts shifting, in all sorts of ways from good and bad. Being potential, it will take a form to better compliment your life. This isn't a logical process, For example things will break when least expected, when pushing oneself too hard, since by pushing too you hard you also create the need for release.

The difference with the Shifting of Tides, potential is shifting in ways that cannot be predicted by past lessons learned... the subtle shifts of potential create vast differences in how life can unfold. This is the time when a butterfly effect turns the breeze into a hurricane, since potentials pile up in such a manner to amplify seemingly small effects.

We will notice in personal lives first, more relationship turmoils, things breaking unexpectedly, connections out of the blue, whimsical coincidences that seem improbable, occur more frequently. It's a time to listen to one's life to better flow with your own life.

As the song goes Times are a changing

So how is this any different than anytime before?

Quite simply the answer is this:

We are living it :)

As the subtle tide shifts, this is a good time to practice awareness, to flow with life, rather than get caught in a riptide against your nature.

This isn't a time to watch the larger world or news: instead this is a time to pay closer attention to home. Our home is always a reflection to the larger universe... Our inner life always contains all the connections needed to reach out. So now, here, pay close attention to look inward to home. Looking outwards means to miss what is transitioning now... inside... heart.

Do you feel this?

Julie and I are now taking time to simplify, not to push, but be strong in life... Slowing down into heart... Change is always most subtle at the start of the process, but the most profound truths are to be had now, in the pause, as the tide of tides now starts to shift again.

Namaste

Teaching and Truth

2009-06-07T00:30:00.001-07:00

Teaching is a meandering conversation

It never has to be more complicated than that, but people often make it so... for the challenge not for the truth...

Namaste

Termites

2009-06-06T00:01:00.000-07:00

Around dinner time, Julie looked up to the light and asked: "Are Those Termites?"

Sure enough a few termites were flying around the kitchen light. So as a family we go into Termite mode. We started by turning off all bulbs, except one, to concentrate the termites in the house to a single spot. However, it quickly became apparent there were, not one or two, but dozens appearing out of no where... (normally it's only a few coming in from outside)

Our home is a older wooden home, and termites are a fact of life in Hawaii. We are slowly organically removing them, but it is taking some patience to do so with orange oil and finding the nests.

Ok, we go into stage two of our termite dance. We get out a little floor lamp to attract them to the floor to make it easier to remove them. Julie and Mina went off to get the termites at the floor, I was busy finishing off a hundred or so termites on the ceiling. Mina was shouting "die you little f*ckers" and doing a very good job at removing the menace... Julie and I were both quite proud of her style.

It was clear something was very wrong... normally this only should have been 5 or 10 termites not hundreds... So I begin to search around inside the house... Sure enough, there was an active nest in one of our walls, releasing flying termites into the house and I might add onto me: which is helpful since it's easier to catch them when they are on you...

Julie being brilliant, went into stage three: She mopped the floor and the wet light reflecting off the floor would cause the termites to get stuck. Then we could just mop them up dozens at a time. I went off to inspect other walls to make sure no other swarms were happening.

I went outside gather a few geckos and I released them to the wall. They went off happily eating all they could.

That was 3 hours ago. The termite witching hour is over... 6:30 to 9pm is the time flying termites swarm in rush hour for their work day.

Termites on the wing, are like flying angels fluttering in the air. Then they land, lose their wings and become worm like demons, intent on devouring your entire home... That's life, good and bad all rolled into one simple wood eating package.

Off to bed now... hopefully I can get the termite people here in a few days to orange oil the walls again...

We are still learning to pace our life here. Life on the Big Island of Hawaii, is not life on the mainland, its home for so many, including us... You quickly learn to let go of all attachment except that of family here. House and material goods just fade away here, but family and friends are ever present and eternal.

It's home, you can't help but love home, even if you deal more often with termites...

Addendum: no swarms tonight :) back to normal

Namaste.