Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub; it is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges. Shape clay into a vessel; it is the space within that makes it useful. Carve fine doors and windows, but the room is useful in its emptiness. The usefulness of what is depends on what is not.
According to Dr. Dyer this verse is about the value of emptiness. Lao Tzu is asking us to live from the core of who we are, from the void. I interpret the void to be that part of me that is beyond my body. The part of me that is aware of everything.
In order for me to wrap my arms around what is being said here I have to divide myself into parts. I am made up of the body, the mind and the spirit. The body is all the different physical manifestations, as well as the 5 senses and all my emotions (which are actually chemical reactions set in motion by thoughts). The mind is made up of pure knowledge and the thoughts that categorize that knowledge. The ego is the part of the mind that has the inner dialogues (sometimes I call it the committee in my head). It’s the part of me that likes to stir the pot and make things more difficult than they need to be.
The best part of me is the spirit. This is the core of me; the part of who I am that is connected to Source. It is this invisible life force that is eternal. When I die, people will not look at my inanimate body and say that is me...they will say that I have gone. But what is it that is gone? It is that essence, that life force that animated the parts you see as me. Or as spoken in this 11th verse it is that part of me that fills the center of the hub, that fills the space inside the clay vessel, that makes the room no longer empty.
When I meditate I breathe in and out, concentrating on the motion so that I can touch that center that can’t be seen. When I am able to step beyond the body and mind, only then can I feel the real me, that which is not the body and mind. The real me has been hidden deep inside the whole, from years of feeling separate from Source, but it is that which fills the void.
I am reminded of a time when I was in my teens and twenties, when something bad would happened, like a breakup with a boyfriend, or the death of my parents, and that void inside me would ache, so intensely I often thought there was a hole going straight through me. The pain back then was so intense because I did not realize that inside that void was Source and that if I concentrated on that hole long enough I could touch Source and feel it filling the void. Now, as I have grown older and wiser I no longer feel that hole, nor do I feel the depth of pain I felt back then. That is because I know that Source is always here inside me, supporting me, filling that void deep within so that I never have to feel that pain of aloneness ever again.
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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