Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

Verse 54 teaches that Tao and its practice are a single events, moment by moment, but we may see them as two phases: (i) Knowing our roots in Tao, and (ii) regarding all through this eternal rootage. This has wonderful implications for the Golden Rule, which I attempt to upgrade as “always do first, as you would be done by.” May your days begin rooted in Peace, so you may know moment-by-moment how to regard hope in every situation. Marc Mullinax – mmullinax@mhu.edu

This verse 53’s episode, on “Lowered Ceilings,” is a call for the inner self not to compromise on the single, or the very few important things in life … like following the level and straight path of the Great Tao, and not becoming side-tracked by the many sideways of fruitless action and thinking over and over again those thoughts that take us nowhere but round and round in circles. Melvis Madrigal is my second voice on the podcast this week. Thank you, Melvis! May your days begin in peace, and become laboratories for radical hope. Marc Mullinax – mmullinax@mhu.edu

Verse 52 takes us on a wild but life-affirming ride that Tao is our Grand and Prolific Mother, who invites all her creations – all her children – to a family reunion that never stops. Chandler Schroeder is my accompanying voice this time. In the episode, I make a new call for listeners to contact me for two reasons: (i) to be a reader and question-asker on a future podcast, and (ii) to join me in a new edition of this podcast after we finish all 81 verses, in a podcast we’ll entitle, “My Favorite Verse of Tao te Ching.” The email to contact me for either is: mmullinax@mhu.edu. May your days begin in peace, to become labs and wombs for radical hope.

Tao is the Original Blueprints of the Universe. Te is the architect that makes these Blueprints visible. Tao is the Dream. Te coaxes the Dream to become deeds. This spontaneous mutual relationship got us here; Verse 51 explores how. Joe Bennett is our voice and questioner today. Pink Floyd provides some awesome lyrics.  May your days begin in radical, lettin’-it-be peace, to become wombs and laboratories for the change-up our world so desperately requires. Did I get Joe's Question right? Let us know: mmullinax@mhu.edu

This verse gets to the heart of what we are made of, and made for. Origins and Destiny. Often, however, we get trapped by the shiny blings of life and lower our ceilings, and have these vulnerable places I call targets for our temptations. But we are more than enslaved slabs of meat susceptible only to reactive thoughts, acquired tastes and cultivated addictions. Listen for more! Who knows? It’s perhaps my most important episode.Kenny Meade is our voice and question-raiser. Find out more about him at https://www.kennethmeade.com/. I make reference to a teaching from J.R.R. Tolkien that parallels today’s episode. You can find that teaching here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtHfY06sP1s  May your days begin in original peace, and become laboratories for radical hope!

Today’s verse 49 teaches how to live with natural grace and peace in what seem like pivotal and violent times. We dissect in this episode how the servant leader, or Taoist, holds to their original vision of peace without compromise. It’s a difficult path, but to become adjusted to society’s neuroses and fragmentation into violent factions and self-righteous means to live in knee-jerk reactivity, not in mindful response or engagement with life. Trent Moore is our valued voice and question-raiser. May your days begin in peace, to become laboratories for radical hope in this pivotal year.

We are taught to add to self to be a self, but where is the wisdom that to increase is really decreasing, and to decrease is actually a positive? It’s here in Taoism, but also in Hinduism, Buddhism, and Orthodox Christianity, to start a list. I reference a pretty crazy podcast from OnBeing by Krista Tippett: https://onbeing.org/programs/colette-pichon-battle-on-knowing-what-were-called-to/ Thanks so much to Naomi Joy Gill for lending her energy, voice, and – for me – a devastating question (in the good sense!). May your days begin in emptiness, to become wombs to birth radical hope! Marc Mullinax

The Beatles put this verse into a song, which you can listen to here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swT6YTPYwgM. Verse 47 has a mystical teaching, one claiming that we can sense the entire universe from our tiny rooms or spaces in which we live. How does one even begin to explain this unitary, unified, worldview where all creation intermixes, interpenetrates, and intermingles in one unified vision or field? So, we talk about developing spiritual literacy. Thanks to Chris Haynes for his voice and timely question, that links this verse with climate change. May your days begin in peace and become wombs for radical hope! Marc

Knowing when enough is enough is a choice, of quality over quantity, a free determination and conclusion of the wise mind, a free choice made by free persons; “enough” is not an amount or quantity, it is a learned attitude that helps us merge more quickly and easily into the way of the universe. Eric Cain (https://www.christschool.org/node/290008) is our reader and question-asker. May your days begin in the awareness of what is Enough, to become wombs for radical sufficiency and gratitude. Marc Mullinax

Much of Tao te Ching teaches us how to hear and experience Tao. To this end, we need to remove our mental interferences and filters that act to weaken or neutralize the experiencing of Tao. This Verse 45 teaches such removal, by helping us to embrace the Paradoxical and the Ambiguous. We start with the Rolling Stones and end with guest Mattie Miller-Decker's beautifully phrased question on how Taoist paradox and Buddhist Original Mind are complements. Mattie is at https://www.hidasta.com/. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope! Marc Mullinax - mmullinax@mhu.edu