8

The supreme good is like water,
which nourishes all things without trying to.
It is content with the low places that people disdain.
Thus it is like the Tao.

In dwelling, live close to the ground.
In thinking, keep to the simple.
In conflict, be fair and generous.
In governing, don’t try to control.
In work, do what you enjoy.
In family life, be completely present.

When you are content to be simply yourself
and don’t compare or compete,
everybody will respect you.

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu, trans. by Stephen Mitchell

Yesterday we attended the Geneva Art Fair. Our grand daughter (5 years old) was particularly interested in paintings that depicted water. An artist fashioned landscapes using dyed wool to produce scenes vibrant with color. Our grand daughter felt the water scenes to be impressive in effect. No art critic, she simply felt the dynamic efficacy of water conveyed in those paintings.

Lao Tsu points many verses to water as a supremely rich symbol of way-making. The Tao is a cosmic principle that resists every metaphor of communication. How do you capture an everywhere presence, an effect without any “before” or “after”? You cannot! Still the experience of water is more apt than anything to convey the features of the Tao. No doubt a child is better positioned within life’s trajectory than the adult, to sense the comprehensiveness of water as a conspicuous metaphor.

Water is life, full stop. Water flows in your organism, bathes every cell, lends conductivity to the information exchange within you and I.

Water doesn’t demand, extract a tariff. Water does what it does, without ado, always flowing down to the “grassroots.” Grassroots is both literal and a symbol for the front line workers who are indispensable – the immigrants willing to pick berries, or coffee beans, or tomatoes by hand for an entry level wage. (Paid by the pound) Right-instinct says the front line workers are to be taken care of, though they have the least prestige/power, – never mind the inner voice yammering about profits…

Water is non-coercive. Water doesn’t humiliate. 

How extensive will I be “for others” today? 

As deep as the root, am I prepared to assist someone today?