Chapter 15.3: Exemplars of the Way, Part III

Who can be stirred up and use serenity to move toward greater clarity? 

Who can be at rest and use serenity to move toward steady growth?

Those who preserve this Way, have no desire to be overfilled. 

It is only because they are not overfilled that they can be tattered like grass and yet reformed anew. 

There is a fine line between being fired up and passionate and overzealous.  A balance must be struck between action and reflection.  We cannot just let our passion carry us away.  We need not rush heedless down the path.  As the saying, “I don’t know where I’m going but I’m making good time!” attests, sometimes we need to slow down, get our bearings, get in touch with our true selves, and gain clarity.  Sometimes we get so caught up in the ride, it is important to build in some down time for self-care, stillness, and serenity.  It is in those down times that we can gain increasing clarity of our inherent worth and purpose.  In the stillness and serenity of quietude we often see things more clearly, see with a broader perspective, and experience greater gratitude.  Serenity helps us restore balance, grants us a momentary reprieve to catch our breaths.  It is a vantage point on the Way that allows us to see how far we’ve come on our journeys and how best to continue to move forward to get from where are to where we want to be.  Clarity in action is critical for efficiency.  It ensures that our efforts and strivings are not wasted or fruitless – that clarity comes in moments of stillness and serenity.

Conversely, serenity is crucial in our rest.  It provides opportunities to look ahead and plot a course.  It helps us determine where to grow, which areas of our lives need attention and energy.  Stillness in rest is not just an avoidance of or the absence of work and growth, but rather the foundation of further growth. Stillness and serenity give us the opportunity to muster up our courage and strength to accomplish the tasks and overcome the challenges that lay before us.  It also allows us to determine what we need to let go of and surrender in our lives.  In using a gardening metaphor, serenity allows us to reflect on what seeds want to sow, which areas need to be weeded, pruned back, or fertilized to produce greater abundance.

Those ancient exemplars who preserved and watched over the Way, were not excessive.  While they embraced their place in the universe as a rare and unique treasure, they didn’t act as if the whole world revolved around them.  They didn’t show off or put themselves on display.  They had no desire to fill themselves up.  They knew it wasn’t all about them.  They practiced a growth mindset.  Because of this, they responded to failure, challenge, and setback differently. Sometimes, despite our best efforts, life falls apart.  The unexpected happens.  Circumstances beyond our control arise.  The actions of others affect us.  Sometimes, we lose our Way or stumble and fall off the path.  When we have a fixed mindset we can fall into the trap of basing our self-worth on our performance.  We can get on the roller coaster of relative worth and the corkscrew of constant comparison.  We erroneously associate who we are with what we do – good, bad, and ugly.  When that happens, failure can feel absolutely catastrophic and irreparable – like grass that has been tattered and shredded in a storm and cannot be restored.  Thus, failure becomes proof of our worthlessness and brokenness instead of an opportunity to learn, grow, and work harder.  In a growth mindset, failure is fertilizer, stepping stones to future growth and success.  The ancient exemplars of the Way didn’t attach their self-worth or their identity to their results and performance.  As such, even when they experienced hardship and setback they were able to pick up the pieces, start over, and rebuild with resilient optimism and hope. 

So can we.  We can practice a growth mindset.  We can go back to the wellspring of our souls, reconnect with our core, and embrace our place in the universe.  We can return home – no matter how long its been.  We can restore our fractured souls, if need be, by practicing stillness.  We can clear away the clutter and create space in our lives for something better.  We can learn, grow, and change.  Regardless of how long it’s been, if we aren’t getting the results we want in any area of our lives, we can change it.  We can examine our actions – for our actions (to a large extent) create our results.  We can investigate our thoughts, beliefs, and feelings – for our feelings drive our actions and our underlying thoughts and beliefs create our feelings.  By changing the way we think, by transforming our beliefs about ourselves, others, and the world – we change how we feel and act – and therefore how we experience the world and respond to circumstances beyond our control.  When we sow different seeds we reap a different harvest.  This is the key to resilience.

Etymology Notes: The character 静 (jing4) means stillness, quietness, or serenity.  It is comprised of a 青 on the left and a 争 (zheng1) on the right.  As a compound ideogram, both elements contribute to the meaning. 青, originally written 𤯞, can be further broken down to a 生 (sheng1) on top, which means to grow, to generate, or to give birth to” and a simplified picture of a 丼 (jing3), or water well.  The character 生 is depicts plants growing up.  So taken together 青 refers to the green plants that grow up around a well of fresh, clean water.  争 depicts two hands pushing and pulling on a rope.  In the midst of all our strivings, all of our pushing and pulling, we need to regularly return to the well, rest, and refresh so that we can nourish and nurture growth.  

There is a wellspring inside of us, a source of life-giving nourishment and vitality.  It exists at the core of who we are and it also needs some of our attention, lest the well run dry.  So let’s take some time for ourselves, do things that nourish our souls, replenish our spirits, and restore our bodies.  Clear away the clutter, make room for something new, and strengthen our cores. ~ DCB