Must you see nature as a machine?
Is your only learning chemistry, physics, and ontology?
What if poetry was your template for life?
Can’t you know Tao by the feeling of mud in your sandals?
Thus are the sages called silly:
They have given up their prejudices.The world appears as you perceive it. It is not that your perceptions are wholly shaped by a so-called objective world. The habit of interpretation is interactive; we do things to test our hypotheses until we have created a complicated web of sensory input and centrifugal manipulation. By the time we are “mature,” we have created innumerable layers of interpretation and biased perception that become our templates for living. Of course, we could have some fun with this situation. We could change the templates that we use to interact with the world.
What if we used poetry instead of science? What if we substituted spirituality for politics? The results of such experimentation are often fresh, happy, and unusual. Unfortunately, when carried to their logical conclusions, they are just as futile as any other method. Templates are essential for beginners, a hindrance for veterans. True followers of Tao give up all templates and are without prejudices. They return to the actions of infants. Thus they are called silly. But because they view the world with their inner eye, they transcend all the sorrows of life.
Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation?
Attending fully and becoming supple, can you be as a newborn babe?
— Tao Te Ching, 10
Other people are contented, enjoying the sacrificial feast of the ox.
In spring some go to the park, and climb the terrace, but I alone am drifting not knowing where I am.
Like a new-born babe before it learns to smile, I am alone, without a place to go.
— Tao Te Ching, 20
Know the strength of man, but keep a woman’s care!
Be the stream of the universe!
Being the stream of the universe, ever true and unswerving,
Become as a little child once more.— Tao Te Ching, 28
The sage has no mind of his own.
He is aware of the need of others.
I am good to people who are good.
I am also good to people who are not good.
Because Virtue is goodness.
I have faith in people who are faithful.
I also have faith in people who are not faithful.
Because Virtue is faithfulness.
The sage is shy and humble – to the world he seems confusing.
Men look to him and listen.
He behaves like a little child.— Tao Te Ching, 49
He who is filled with Virtue is like a newborn child.
Wasps and serpents will not sting him;
Wild beasts will not pounce upon him;
He will not be attacked by birds of prey.
His bones are soft, his muscles weak, but his grip is firm.
He screams all day without becoming hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.— Tao Te Ching, 55
Till I had you I didn’t know
That I was missing out
Had to grow up and see the world
Through different shades of doubt
Give me one more chance to dream again
One more chance to feel again
Through your young heart
If only for one day let me tryI wanna see christmas through your eyes
I want everything to be the way it used to be
Back to being a child again thinking the world was mine
I wanna see christmas, christmas through your eyesI see the rain, you see the rainbow hiding in the clouds
Never afraid to let your love show
Won’t you show me how
Wanna learn how to believe again
Find the innocence in me again
Through your young heart
Help me find a way, help me tryI wanna see christmas through your eyes
I want everything to be the way it used to be
Back to being a child again thinking the world was kind
I wanna see christmas, christmas through your eyes— Gloria Estefan
Perhaps the real spirit of the Holiday season is to return to seeing the world through the eyes of a child. We are reminded of birth through Christmas, of light through Hannukkah, and we try to recapture much of the magic of ancient traditions with our Christmas trees, candles, yule logs, giving gifts to each other, and all the other traditions we follow. In some sense Christmas can bring out the child in all of us, but then we lose that spirit as we enter the New Year and try to make resolutions to be better people. We say we must lose weight or eat right or exercise more or whatever.
Perhaps what we really need is just to resolve to have more fun and enjoy our lives more.
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