Success is as dangerous as failure. Hope is as hollow as fear. What does it mean that success is as dangerous as failure? Whether you go up the ladder or down it, your position is shaky. When you stand with your two feet on the ground, you will always keep your balance. What does it mean that hope is as hollow as fear? Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self. When we don’t see the self as self, what do we have to fear? See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things.
In other words be a lover of what is. If you are feeling good, enjoy it. If you are feeling bad, find out why. If I’m having a stressful moment then it is important for me to find out what is going on that is causing me stress. That is what is meant by loving what is, for what is can help us move back to peace and joy.
On occasion my stress comes from the outside environment, but the majority of the time it has something to do with my internal dialogue. Thoughts come and thoughts go and often the ones that are not productive to me will hang around, swirl through my head, and cause me to feel a negative emotion which is usually a response to a fear that has sets off my body’s automatic fight or flight system. And almost invariably the thought is an old one; a pattern I’ve been dealing with for decades.
One of my most persistent patterns is my pride. I tell myself I have to do things “right” or people will think I’m weak or incompetent and won’t want to be around me. That’s why my inner critic used to have so much power over me. I would listen to her incessant whining about how I was being stupid, or clumsy, or I was ugly or incompetent which would then cause me to be hyper-vigilant and anxious with anything I was about to do that was not rote or familiar. Crazy huh, yet exactly what Lao Tzu is talking about in this 13th verse, when he says going up the ladder of success or hope and down the ladder of failure or despair are one and the same.
If I keep my feet planted on the ground and love what is, I allow these thoughts to come and go in my head and learn from them without attaching an emotion to them. This in turn this action allows me to enjoy the fruits of life with a peaceful heart and a peaceful mind.
References:
Mitchell, Stephen (2009-10-13). Tao Te Ching (p. 6). Harper Collins, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
The Laozi (2009-10-04). The Tao Teh King, or the Tao and its Characteristics (Kindle Locations 29-30). Public Domain Books. Kindle Edition.
Mitchell, Stephen; Katie, Byron (2007-02-06). A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are (p. 13). Random House, Inc.. Kindle Edition.
Dyer, Wayne Dr. 1 Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life, Audio Version, (Disc 2)
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