The trap of Doing nothing

A friend chided me a few days ago about a comment I made to her. She had told me of a bunch of troubles she has had to endure. I said perhaps she should tell the universe that "she got the lesson and it can back off".

She pointed out that it was not productive to argue or to try to persuade the universe that she got the lesson. The universe will do what it wants anyway.

Of course, she is right. That said, we must be careful not to fall into the trap of inaction by always "going with the flow".

What does that mean? One of the problems I had in studying Taoism years ago is that for many western writers, Taoism was a religion for retired people because it is based on the principle of inaction. Another way of saying it is " Do nothing and all will be done". Now, many people take that literally. We must do nothing. Just sit and contemplate (like the old man at the end of Siddhartha. That, of course, is nonsense. The Tao requires actions from people-the right action.

The cryptic saying really means that we must act in accord with the Tao (or the universe or whatever you wish to call it) rather than going against it. Christians and Muslims often speak of "doing God's will" or placing oneself "into the hands of God".

Often times it means letting things happen naturally-not fighting fate or the inevitable. However, that is too simple and often leads to a trap. Simple letting things happen is not necessarily the best course. It may work for leaves fluttering to the ground, but it does not work well for people.

You would not get on a boat, head out to see and simple let go of the wheel and let the sea take you to where you want to go. That will probably get you killed. Similarly, the old story of of the two guys walking along a coursing river and seeing a guy on the other side skipping and whistling? Suddenly the happy travelor was swept away by the coursing waters and was seen bouncing amidst the rocks as he sailed pell mell downstream. The other two men began shrieking and appealing to the Heavens for intervention. Then, the river just as suddenly spit out the congenial soul farther down, and he shook himself off and continued whistling. The two men caught up with him and asked incredulously, 'Good Heavens, we thought you'd be killed, were you not afraid?!" The unassuming travelor said, "Oh that, well, no, I just surrendered and let the river take me where I was headed anyway." Sounds good, but sometimes, there is a waterfall in the way and the results may not be so great.

This leads to the next logical question, which is "OK, if I am supposed to act, how do I do it?

I refer to Lao Tzu once again. In his verse 8, titled "water" he says:

The best of men is like water;
Water benefits all things
And does not compete with them.
It dwells in (the lowly) places that all disdain -
Wherein it comes near to the Tao.

In his dwelling, (the Sage) loves the (lowly) earth;
In his heart, he loves what is profound;
In his relations with others, he loves kindness;
In his words, he loves sincerity;
In government, he loves peace;
In business affairs, he loves ability;
In his actions, he loves choosing the right time.
It is because he does not contend
That he is without reproach.

Contemplate that until next time, where I will elaborate on this question.

Mr.T