Simple Pleasures, Albert Fennel
“Be aware of Tao.”
Isn’t that simple?
No — let’s reduce more :
“Be Tao.”
Why go through all this rigmarole? Why endlessly examine scriptures and debate obscure actions of long-dead saints and equally dead words? We need to affirm experience over words, individuality over dogma.
After all this study of Tao, there should only be this simple conclusion :
There is only us and Tao.
No, more simple still is to be Tao itself. Then everything that is Tao is us.
Those who follow Tao reduce everything in complexity until they reach the final irreducible conclusion : You are Tao. When you can be that without any contradictions, then you have truly achieved sublime simplicity.
“Simplicity in conduct, in beliefs, and in environment brings an individual very close to the truth of reality. Individuals who practice simplicity cannot be used because they already have everything they need; they cannot be lied to because a lie merely reveals to them another aspect of reality. An attraction to simplicity is essentially an attraction to freedom – the highest expression of personal power. We are taught to think of freedom as something one has, but it is really the absence of things that brings freedom to the individual and meaning into life. To let go of things – unnecessary desires, superfluous possessions – is to have them. Lao Tzu believed that an individual life contains the whole universe, but when individuals develop fixations about certain parts of life they become narrow and shallow and uncentered. Fixations and desires create a crisis within the mind. As individuals let go of desires, feelings of freedom, security, independence, and power increase accordingly.”
— R.L. Wing, The Tao of Power
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”
— Leonardo da Vinci
“Out of intense complexities intense simplicities emerge.”
— Winston Churchill
“Simplicity is the glory of expression”
— Walt Whitman
“Simplicity is making the journey of this life with just baggage enough.”
— Charles Dudley Warner
“I would not give a fig for the simplicity this side of complexity, but I would give my life for the simplicity on the other side of complexity.” — Oliver Wendell Holmes
“From native simplicity we arrive at more profound simplicity.” — Albert Schweitzer
“Eliminate physical clutter. More importantly, eliminate spiritual clutter. ” — D.H. Mondfleur
“Live simply that others might simply live.” — Elizabeth Seaton
“Besides the noble art of getting things done, there is the noble art of leaving things undone. The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” –Lin Yutang
“Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” — William Morris
“How many things are there which I do not want.” — Socrates
America is a difficult country for anyone trying to simplify their life. We complicate things endlessly and are relentlessly pushed to be more, do more, have more. Our lives become complex webs of work, relationships, and always, more stuff than we can handle.
Be Tao. It seems very simple, to realize one is simply a natural being that is a part of everything else. But our relationship to the real, natural world is so often cut off, our understanding of ourselves is cut off as well. Connecting the two things as one is not an easy or simple task.
Can we achieve the simplicity of knowing we are Tao? Sure. And then we’ll forget, and need to remind ourselves again. The less often we need reminding, the simpler and more fulfilling our lives will become.
2 Responses
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“There is only us and Tao.” I would shorten this to “There is only us.” Tao is not other than us, it is the name of a system of thought/philosopy. Both the name and the philosophy are human creations.
I favor simplicity, too, but I always try to keep in mind that for every problem there is a solution that is simple, elegant, and wrong. (That’s a paraphrase, I cannot, at the moment, recall who said it or the exact words).