Tao of the Day

A great show with lots of listeners and guests. I started out with Melissa and #8 then Sandy chose #64 and Johnny came up an we talked abou t#12 and healing. Jay K wrapped up the day wiht #13.
#8 "Be Like Water"
Water is humble,
Always traveling to the lowest place,
Nourishing, without taxing
Everything along the way.
In so doing, it is like Tao.
The Master aims to resemble water:
In thinking, she is simple.
In conflict, she is yielding.
In governing, she doesn't need control.
In work, she does the obvious thing.
In family life, she is continually present.
When one can be content with being,
And not require comparison or praise,
It is said they invest in their life
By making of it a donation.
#12 "The Senses"
Colors blind the eyes of men.
Sounds deafen the ears of men.
Flavors dull the tongues of men.
Thoughts will lead a mind to turmoil.
Desires and greed will lead a life to turmoil.
Therefore, the Master satisfies her inner vision
Allowing external cravings to come and go.
#13 "Finding Equality at the Extremes"
To succeed and to fail are equally undesirable.
Creation and destruction are equally present within us.
What do I mean by "To succeed and to fail are equally undesirable?"
The more success you have the more you protect it by hiding failure.
The more you associate with failure the more you embody it.
When neither success nor failure is identified as the destination
Being becomes the objective.
What do I mean by "Creation and destruction are equally present within us?"
Having a body and a mind, with which I identify, gets me involved in the manifestation.
The manifestation convinces me of my actions
And so naming them I both create and destroy
Neither of which are unique.
To see yourself with indifference
You will have faith in all things.
To see the world with indifference
You will be able to care for it all.
#64 "It's so Easy"
It is easy to stop something before it is set into motion.
It is easy to plan something before beginning it.
It is easy to break something before it has grown strong.
It is easy to hide something before it has grown big.
Preventing problems has never been the problem.
Tiny sprouts do this and grow to unimaginable heights,
Every journey has started with the first easy step.
Avoiding the easy is what has created all difficult problems.
Rushing past the easy things will end up costing you,
Grasping onto the destination you lose sight of where you are.
Forcing things to be what you want, when you want,
Will only turn those things against you.
Therefore, the Master monitors her desire for an outcome.
She remains as calm at the beginning as at the end
So she can see what is in front of her.
She embraces the mundane and doesn't prize rarities.
Doing this the Master reminds those around her
Of who they have always been, and they are inspired.
Caring about nothing but Tao she cares for all things.

Today we have some serious conversations. I started off with Marianne and #73 and that led to som eserious prais of Mariiane by Melissa and her #63. Sandy joined and we talked withdrawl and #4 then Jay K came up and discussed her take on #47.
#4 "The Void"
Tao is the void
And the void is within everything.
As it relates to what is perceptible (cells)
Everything is mostly void.
As the origin of everything
It is hidden within every particular thing.
The Master knows it is even the source of God,
And yet others still go on searching.
#47 "Engaging with Manifestation"
You can understand all things touched by Tao
Without leaving your room.
You can see all things touched by Tao
Without opening your eyes.
The more you trust the manifestation
The less you trust yourself.
Thus, the Master never engages manifestation
Without first having engaged herself.
In so doing she achieves everything
Without ever having considered it.
#63 "Problems are no Problem"
Be still and you will act without doing,
Be still and your work will happen regularly.
Be still and your senses will engage the subtle.
Similarly engage a stranger as the multitude.
See the majesty of mountains in a grain of sand.
The Master knows greatness cannot be grasped.
Remaining still, she allows greatness to flow through her.
With no desire to achieve it, her stillness guides her,
Making subtle movements the difficult seems easy.
She knows that all of life is not without its problems
So problems turn out to be no problem at all.
#73 "Nothing Falls Through"
There are men who love feeling, and to feel they kill.
There are men who love feeling, and to do so remain calm.
Who is to say which will experience more turmoil?
There is purpose in walking with death, as there is in walking with life.
The inner workings of Tao can never be understood;
It makes no commands, yet all things come on their own accord;
It never acts; but all things act on its behalf;
It is empty, yet within it lays all things and their Master Plans.
Tao is a net holding all things together, connected.
Its mesh is wide, but it holds so well nothing falls through.

What a great show, Mpress joined me for #10 after I started talking about #68. JRey and J Kay joined for #49 and #78 repectivly. then Kathy got in under the wire for #6.
#6 "The Great Feminine"
Everything is born from the feminine,
Even Heaven and Earth.
The Feminine that births is a Mother,
She nourishes and supports without possessing.
Despite your awareness of it
You are using it right now.
#10 "Authentic Action"
Can you control your mind, so it doesn't wonder?
Can you control your body, so it doesn't wander?
Can you endorse all that you do?
Can you love everyone so as to inspire them?
Can you do all this without interfering and remain unknown?
Can you leave behind knowing and open yourself to understanding?
Can you be like Tao and give birth
Without possessing?
Can you be like Tao and act
Without expecting?
Can you be like Tao and lead
without dominating?
If so, it would be considered great.
#49 "Illusion of Separateness"
The Master has freed herself from separateness
She opens herself to receive from all beings.
When she encounters sincerity, she responds in kind,
In the face of duplicity, her sincerity remains.
When she encounters goodness, she responds in kind,
In the face of evil, her goodness remains.
Why should she change for the manifestation?
She knows the manifestation is an illusion of separateness
Beyond that, there is only one.
#68 "Do What you Love to Do"
Great athletes love to play, not win
Great fighters love to fight, not be angry
Great generals love to strategize, not destroy
Great employers love to employ, not be a boss.
Great musicians love to play, not perform.
They are not attached to identities or outcomes,
They simply dance with what they love to do.
This is in harmony with Tao.
#78 "Living in a Damaged State"
Air and water are the softest things we know,
Causing no damage to those that live within them
Yet both erode the hard or rigid in their path.
The soft and flexible will always overcome.
While the hard and rigid eventually collapse.
Ordinary men are well aware of this
However, they prefer conspicuous outcomes.
Thus they align with rigid hardness,
It stands firm for a time, but does not last.
Therefore, the Master teaches us that
We can live amongst things that damage
Without being damaged by them.

Today is my first Monday back and I had a few great connections with Melissa #1 and her mom Pat for #58. Marianne accidentally joined as well and we talked about the classic #27.
#1 "Expressing Tao"
Words are particular,
They cannot express Tao.
To have a name is to be limited to manifestation
That which is nameless is the source of manifestation.
Self-referential, those who name, name themselves.
Want to experience the depth of the mystery? Stop identifying.
Want to experience the shallowness of the manifestation? Differentiate.
Either way no one can tell,
The difference is in your experience.
#27 "The Mystery of the Process"
Although a good traveler may have plans
They are not rigid, nor is the outcome.
Although a good artist creates,
The creations are arrived at through intuition.
Although a good scientist observes
It is done for the first time every time.
By embodying these strategies
The Master accepts everyone
And makes use of every situation,
Nothing is wasted and
Every moment is imbued with light.
What is the good if not a vision for the bad?
What is the bad if not a lesson for the good?
Accept this completely,
Or you will suffer in all you do.
It is the great secret.
#58 "To Oversee, Don't Interfere"
In overseeing anything, don't interfere,
Let everything flourish in its own time.
Interfering, you get met with resistance
Or worse, apathetic adherence.
Misery and misfortune are tied to expectation.
To expect success is to focus on failure,
To expect happiness is to invite misery,
To expect moral adherence is to flirt with tragedy.
There is no escaping it, expecting good yields bad,
This is interfering, it has always been true.
The Master therefore is content to simply be an example
She has no desire to impose, and trusts all she oversees,
She is firm but yielding, she is sharp, yet none are cut by her
She is radiant, but easy on the eyes.

Today was my second day back after my Spain hiatus and I picked a random #31 which I also talked about yesterday, but didn't get uploaded as a podcast but you can find it here https://noomvibe.app/tl/xzj7 As for today I also talked to Jay K about #7 and Robin about #17.
#7 "The Wisdom of Not Having Preference"
Tao is infinite
It doesn't grow old or tired.
Because it has no preference for itself
It can always persist.
The Master puts herself last
And always finds herself first.
By being detached from preference
She can give herself to what is
And find fulfillment there.
#17 "Of Masters and Leaders"
In the time of the great Masters there were no leaders.
Then, those whom the people loved, led the way.
After having created the position
The people feared their leaders,
Then they despised them.
Having created leaders, their faith in Tao was diminished.
Having become a leader, his trust in the people was diminished.
When there are great Masters there are no leaders
She works day and night and says nothing about it,
When the work is done the people say
"Amazing! We did it all by ourselves!"
#31 "Of Weapons and Mourning"
Weapons are horrible tools,
The Master avoids weaponizing anything.
Weapons promote fear and separation:
Avoided by those who walk in blessings
Embraced by those who walk in delusion.
If compelled to use them, she uses restraint.
There is no glory in victory if weapons are used,
Her enemy is not evil but human like herself.
How can she see glory in their slaughter?
When the Master is compelled to engage a weapon
She does so gravely, and filled with compassion,
Knowing that this is the first state of her mourning.