An Idiot????

In the Tao Te Ching there is a passage that says: "I am like an idiot my mind is so empty."

In our western mind set it would seem impossible to make such a statement about ourselves without feeling like we were degrading ourselves, but if we would look beyond what is seen to that that is not so easily seen we would have a very important key to happiness.

It's an attitude of passivity, of emptiness. Think about it. Where do you store things in an empty room? What part of a cup do you use for your coffee? In what part of your home do you do your living? in the EMPTY PART!

How many of us are so filled with old attitudes, ideas, and opinions that a new concept is beyond our grasp? How many of us are so married to our image of ourselves, the way we think, and the way we live, that newness is a painful thought? How many of us have lost the ability we had as children to wonder and learn?

When we maintain an attitude of not knowingness, we gain the ability to learn, or when the cup is empty you can fill it. If the cup is never emptied in time the contents becomes poisonous, and so it is with us. When the old is not released for the new, stagnation, and frustration is inevitable.

So what's the point? The point is emptiness, and not knowingness brings stillness. In stillness there is peace, and in this attitude of reception and reflection is the ability to learn, life is never over, and every day all things are fresh exciting and new!

Ó Lester F. Schone, Jr. 1995

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