The man who rows a boat uses effort. The man who puts up a sail uses magic.
Alan Watts
I love that quote above.
What does it mean crazy lady?
Alan Watts in, The secret of happiness, teaches about the Tao and the importance of getting out of the way of it. The Tao, of course, is that invisible fluid perfection of nature, of Life flow that we cannot fully understand with our limited human minds. When we see ourselves as separate little "me"s in a strange and dangerous world full of "others", we often get in the way of it ...we strive to get somewhere, we push hard...we work against this force. We row the boat ( often against the current) when all we really have to do is, put up a sail, let go to the flow and be carried by the "magic" of the Tao.
Self? Other?
If we identify with our separateness, we often feel that we need to defend and attack to protect ourselves from Life. We judge what unfolds in front of us as fortunate or unfortunate, advantageous or disadvantageous to this separate little me...failing to see the whole impersonal nature of the Tao, failing to see the 'bigger picture'. We may feel attacked by Life when unfortunate things happen 'to us' and "resist" life circumstances and Life. We may "work hard" to change it, instead of accepting, allowing and questioning if there is a wiser, more meaningful wind beneath these turn of events, beneath that which is unfolding in front of us...than the ego is capable of understanding. With tongues out and fists clenched we too often stand in the way of this flow ( as if that is going to do anything to change it lol) instead of allowing ourselves to be carried by it.
Different or the Same?
There is no "self" separate or different from the "other" anywhere but in our minds. We would not have a sense of self if we did not perceive an "other". Just like we can not perceive darkness without perceiving light, just as we can not have a front without a back and vice versa...we cannot have a self without an other and an other without a self. All things are connected.
We can put up a so called fence between self and other but that fence becomes shared property, doesn't it? On one side it is my fence ...on the other side it is your fence... but it is just one fence. Whose fence is it then and does it really separate what is mine from yours when the shared earth runs beneath that fence? And just as you multiply 1 x 1...your side times my side ...you still get one.
Our body lines...that which we think separate us are shared property. They do not separate us from each other or us from the environment in which we live. Self is other and other is self. In some eastern philosophies this consideration of so called polarities or opposites is termed "identical differences" . Different is identical and identical is different. I love the way Thich Nhat Hanh used to refer to this understanding of what we call self and other..."Neither different nor the same".
A Part of The Flow
So once we understand there is no fence, no border, no separation between self and other, between "me" and " you"...between "me" and everything else in the world... this understanding of the Tao becomes a little clearer. We begin to understand that there is a force flowing beneath everything, carrying everything, and we as little dots of matter, are carrying that same force within us. Our effort to stop or redirect that flow not only exhausts us and causes conflict both externally and internally, it is meaningless. We cannot stop the flow that has been here on this planet...this tiny speck of dirt in the universe for billions of years before we were born and will continue for billions of years after we die. So why don't we learn to stop resisting, to accept and allow what is and flow with it instead of against it?
Observing and Knowing
In Taoism there is no difference between you, the observer, and what is being observed, between you, the knower, and what is being known. If there is any knowledge at all it contains the knower and the known. What is important is the true experience: to be happy and to know you are happy. Yet we are often required in the west, Watts reminds us, to do what is acceptably happy making but to do it only as if it wasn't required. I may love to dance for no other reason than to experience dancing but if you observe me dancing and comment on my dancing I may learn to dance for you and for me instead of the sheer joy of experiencing it, without observer or knower or "me" or "you". You may then tell me I am showing off. I will then become self conscious and focused on how I appear to you and to myself . That diminishes the felt sense of happiness, of being in the Tao.
Dance as if you have no audience...not even yourself!
Anyway...I am beginning to ramble. Have a listen for yourself.
All is well!
Alan Watts/ Timeless Knowledge (n.d.) The Secrets to Happiness.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-jFXwJ69j8Q
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