The Way and the Power of Virtue

  Therefore, those who follow the Way unite on the Way; those who have grasped the power of virtue unite in virtue; those who have experienced loss unite in loss.   Those who are united on the Way,  rejoice in obtaining fellowship along the Way; Those who are united in the power of virtue,  rejoice in obtaining fellowship in virtue; Those who are united in loss, rejoice in obtaining fellowship in loss. Wherein trustworthiness is insufficient, therein is untrustworthiness. Everyone has trials that are hard to bear.   We all have have seasons of struggle and suffering.  All of us face fear and go through some hard times in our lives.  Everybody experiences great moments and high points.  We are more alike than we are different. What unites us is stronger and more significant than what divides us.  Every moment of every day, we all stand at a crossroads in our lives just like everyone else.   While our crossroads is comple...

It is rare to speak of ourselves authentically – just as we are.   The whirling winds don’t last through the morning, The torrential, galloping rains don’t last through the day.   Who makes these?   Heaven and earth.   If natural disasters don't last long,  how much less so people's hardships? As human beings we talk a lot, but how often do we speak of where we really are, how things are really going in our lives?  More often than not we put up walls.  As we put ourselves on display and ride the roller coaster of relative worth , we create false facades, images of how we want others to see us – like Potemkin villages .  We whitewash our lives to look amazing.  We Photoshop out the blemishes we want to hide.  By doing so we rob ourselves of our own worth and fall victim to the beauty trap and other subjective social stereotypes.  We often justify doing so by saying that we don’t want to burden others – so we suffer in si...

  Seeing beyond themselves, they thus radiantly play their part; not showing themselves off, they thus shine bright like the sun and the moon. Not out to get for themselves, they are thus accomplished; not out to boast of themselves in each moment, they thus grow and endure long. Now, it is only because they do not contend – engage in the tug of war –   that no one in the world can tug on them. Of old it was said, “broken yet made whole,” are these but a few empty words? Truly, we can become whole and return home. When we see beyond ourselves, we can shine like the sun   –  not just for ourselves, we can be a source of light for others as we play our part radiantly in the symphony of life.   Counterintuitively, we don’t need to show offor put ourselves on display as an object .   In the words of leading body image experts Lindsay and Lexi Kite, PhD, we are “ more than a body ” our bodies are instruments not ornaments.   We are already r...

  Broken yet made whole, twisted yet straightened out,  hollowed out yet filled up,  tattered yet renewed,  among the few yet obtaining, among the many yet confused. This is why the sages embrace and hold on to unity  as the shepherd of the world. The metaphors used in this passage to describe our journey of becoming sages (wise people) on the Way are all about restoration and speak to deep-seated emotional needs.  In our own ways, each of us feels misshapen, crooked, twisted, and broken at times as we go round and round riding on that roller coaster of relative worth with its corkscrew of constant comparison .  We get all screwed up and bent out of shape about things that don’t really matter.  Sometimes we feel heavily burdened and weighed down with regret, remorse, guilt, and shame, dragging the past around with us like a weight around our necks.  We feel empty inside, hollowed out, and tattered, and alone even as we feel like we are ju...

  The all-encompassing nourishment of Virtue, is only in following the Way.   As a phenomenon, the Way is a moonlit perspective, an indistinct flash, Flashing indistinctly, peering through the moonlight,  at its core there is an image; Peering through the moonlight, flashing indistinctly,  at its core there is something; Profoundly twinkling from afar,  at its core there is an essence – an essential invitation, Its vital essence is the sweet serenade of self-actualization,  at its core there is trust. From the present to antiquity, its name has not departed,  it was the course our forbearers followed. How do I know it was this way for our forbearers?   Because of this. The power and potency of virtue is abundant, all-encompassing , nourishing, and nurturing – like a newborn babe breastfeeding.  However, it is only in following the Way – in making or finding “our” Way  –  that we gain access to it.   Rememb...