The Tao in My Heart

38 degrees ... thick clouds and a feeling of anticipation in the air. More rain coming? It's hard to say but, for the moment, I feel weighed down as if a heavy cloak were draped over the heavens all the way to the edges of the sky. I've been cold all day ... just can't warm up.

This morning's T'ai Chi Chih class was small ... and powerful. Our quiet practice is a gift we share with ourselves and each other. I'm always in awe of students' willingness to be open and vulnerable as we move through the practice and then discuss the Tao.

Today we read and contemplated Verse 60. Wayne Dyer calls this verse/chapter: "Living with Immunity to Evil" and Ursula LeGuin titles it "Staying Put." Both versions begin similarly (quoting Dyer here):

Governing a large country
is like frying a small fish.
You spoil it with too much poking.

Dyer explains that the Tao isn't about destruction or visiting harm on anyone; rather, it gives sustaining energy to everyone, without exception (p. 287).

My reading of this verse leads me to this: You are immune to negativity by being Tao-centered. You are immune to negativity when you're in your TCC practice because you merge with the Tao. Stay in the midst of your practice in all that you do and say [I admit, easier said than done]. Return to your practice regularly to build/align/connect with the love, compassion, and peace of the Tao.

As Dyer reminds us in the last line of this chapter: Approach the universe with the Tao in your heart rather than reacting defensively [from ego] (p. 289).