Tao Te Ching Verse 23: Choosing One

The Tao Te Ching for Everyday Living

Tao Te Ching Verse 23
Translated by Henry Wei, 1982

Nature is brief in its speech.
Thus a tempest does not last a whole morning,
Nor does a rainstorm last a whole day.
What is it that causes the wind and rain?
It is Heaven and Earth.
Even Heaven and Earth cannot be long in their outbursts.
How much the less can humanity in its!
Therefore, in the pursuit of Tao,
Those tending toward Tao will identify with Tao;
Those tending toward virtue will identify with virtue;
Those tending toward failure will identify with failure.
To those identified with Tao,
Tao will gladly extend welcome;
To those identified with virtue,
Virtue will gladly extend welcome;
To those identified with failure,
Failure will gladly extend welcome.
When one's own faith is inadequate,
It will not evoke faith from other people.

The gifts of the Tao

Have you ever had an experience when everything seemed right with the world? I have, once in awhile. I like to call that feeling ‘contentment.’
What about that feeling you get when you have created something? Isn’t it beautiful? Don’t things just feel...in flow when you’ve completed your work?

And what about healing someone else? With a smile, with a hug, with a friendly ear. What’s the feeling you get when you know you’ve helped another person?

Finally, how about those times when you’re in a group, and for a moment, everything is going just the way it should be - you’re feeling everyone and they’re feeling you, and there’s this...electric energy that’s in the room or space you’re in? I feel this mostly when I’m dancing with others, at a family event, or even a party with friends. It seems at that moment that I am a part of and still belong to everyone else at the same time.

These are some of the gifts that I have experienced with the Tao. In his book, ‘how to know God,’ Deepak Chopra talks more about these experiences in a nicely profound manner. In fact, this book was what helped me to categorize these spiritual feelings I’ve had with the Tao.

While there are many different expressions, types, and feelings I get from the Tao, these are the main ones I experience. But here’s the thing - my ‘self’ puts a muffler on these experiences. I’ve found that when I’m placing importance on the things I think, I’m blocking these gifts from me! Anytime I’m not in harmony with the Tao, I don’t get to experience the gifts. Remember when we talked about impartiality in Verse 5? How the Tao doesn’t care one way or another if you’re in harmony with it? That’s the beauty of the Tao, isn’t it? I get to choose if I’ll humble myself enough to remember that I am not the Tao - my humanness is a temporary expression of it. I can’t really make huge lasting changes to Nature like I think. No, what I can do is tap into the power of the Tao and use it to consciously create - and in so doing, I experience the gifts of the Tao we just talked about.

So I suppose the main takeaway from Verse 23 is this: I am not the force or will that I think I am, but the Tao is there and always on, and if I can humble myself enough, I can use the power of the Tao to consciously create for myself and others. It’s my choice to fall into harmony with the Tao, but when I do, the things I experience are awesome and what make being human a true gift.

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