Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

Here is a verse that seems to be autobiographical. The author gets trapped into webs and narratives of others, and has to hide their true self. #go.along.to.get.along When one forgets or compromises one's original self, original virtue, or as the main metaphor for this verse, one's thread to which one holds tightly, all kinds of compromises and "settling" happen. The solution: Remember your roots. Remember your origins. Come back to your senses. Missy Harris is our voice and question-asker. May your days begin in peace, and become the threads with which weave radical hope.

There is a key word in the Chinese version of this text - Chüeh (绝) - that I have come to believe has been under-interpreted. The usual English words used to interpret Chüeh include renounce, abandon, give up, throw away, forget about, banish, get rid of, end, do away with, drop and forswear. There is a wonderful opportunity to re-read this verse with Chüeh being translated as "interruption". Today's episode is my attempt to strengthen (if possible) the idea of 绝 with what it means to practice a "holy interruption" as a spiritual practice. The trickster Matt Buys is my quote-reader and question-asker. Audrey Davis is our esteemed artist. Molly Hartwell sings her “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism.May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical and "interruptive" hope. Marc Mullinax - mmullinax@mhu.edu

Verses 17-19 can be read together, so this week's verse 18 continues some of the themes from last week's episode on Verse 17. What happens when you start to abandon your original nature and "descend" or move to another beat or drum? According to this teaching, what happens is that we find myriad ways to lose our true self in the cultures around us, that may - and often do - regard us with contempt, or as a potential ATM. We are better than that, this verse reminds us. We are made for much better. Can we listen? Stephanie McLeskey gave voice to our quotes and question this week. Audrey Davis is our esteemed artist. Molly Hartwell sings her haunting song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope. Marc Mullinax - mmullinax@mhu.edu

This verse contains the first of five instances of "Ziran" which are the last two words of this verse, meaning, "It all happens naturally." Other ways to translate Ziran include, include "something that happens by itself constantly," spontaneously self-so, or “It is so by virtue of its own” and “the nature of what is so”. Ziran is the result of acting silently, without fanfare or drawing ANY attention to self, and practicing the highest virtue - Tao, or, the "greatest thing above or beyond." This practice is the true practice of transparent leaders, parents, neighbors, or colleagues.... Things just seem to happen naturally on their own. Deborah Lynn gave voice to our quotes this week. Her question stumped me, and so I am asking you listeners to help me answer her. Audrey Davis is our esteemed artist. Molly Hartwell sings her haunting song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope. -Marc Mullinax mmullinax@mhu.edu

Radical emptiness, teaches Taoism, includes the emptying of fears. You know as well as I that life can be a fearful place. Before the ends of our lives, so much will happen that no one could predict. Lots may be asked of us, of our health, by our loved ones. It could be quite easy to hide somewhere we feel we would be impervious to life’s existential challenges, slings and arrows. VERSE 16 teaches us that a life clinging to false things, ideas, and fears is a diminished life indeed. Rest assured, though: Everything false, from fears to desires, will eventually fail, perhaps slowly, but let this confident mind be in you. Nothing artificial has the power to last forever. This podcast is an original labor of love, designed, written, and co-produced by many, whose central idea is that Tao te Ching is good news for today. Tao still speaks. David Dixon’s voice uttered our quotes this week. Audrey Davis is our valued artist. Molly Hartwell sings her song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope! Marc Mullinax

This week, a most revolutionary verse, one that asks us "to checklist" our operating values in life with the most ancient of values and practices of the pre-Taoist masters. What are these? Care, alertness, being courteous and honorable, fluid, malleable and supple, receptive and open, clear of distractions, and patient. Meditate on this: When one practices these values, are we not more human?? May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope! -Marc Mullinax I am looking for future quote readers? Might you be one? mmullinax@mhu.edu.

In this second bonus episode, I demonstrate how, using free will and awareness, we can reframe, or transform, the crap which we hate, into positive and life-affirming acts of compassion. It is a simple process, this reframing, but few practice it, as we fall into unquestioned habits that transform the goodness of this world into things we think of as evil, or not worthy of our time. Here is the link for the Three Vinegar Tasters. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope! -Marc Mullinax

In Verse 14, Lao Tzu re-emphasizes with rather direct energy his past themes of emptiness of mind and senses, in order to gain a renewed emphasis on the PRESENT (rather than a re-tread of the past, or anxiety about a fictional future). It is indeed possible – right now, and exactly where you are – to live in accord with all creation. For in the now/here/this is all the teaching one needs. Of other teachings one needs little. The peaceful person, or animal, lives in the clear-eyed, clear-eared, and emptiness of no place, and no time, ever in the eternal now. **The practice of the present is the practice of the infinite.** Tao te Ching is good news for today. Tao still speaks. Wes Own spoke our quotes this time. Audrey Davis is our artist. Molly Hartwell sings her song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope.

In this Verse 13, Lao Tzu teaches us to mistrust the small mind beliefs about our body, so we can (1) recognize how our ego is at work in order to counteract it, and (2) learn to fall in love with our natural and Tao-birthed bodies, even if we need to fall back in love with them. This podcast is an original labor of love, designed, written, and co-produced by many, whose central idea is that Tao te Ching is good news for today. Tao still speaks. Mickey Moreno spoke our quotes this time. Audrey Davis is our artist. Molly Hartwell sings her song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope. FYI, there are transcripts available for all episodes. Just write and ask for the episodes you want. mmullinax@mhu.edu

In this episode treating Verse 12 of Tao Te Ching, we are given a choice: To pay attention to our unedited desires and cravings for what Lao Tzu calls the myriad swirl of the 10,000 things. OR, to pay attention, mindfully and with discipline, to the miraculous nature of the present moment, the present time, and the present circumstance. This is how to avoid soul-chaos. This podcast is an original labor of love, whose central idea is that Tao te Ching is good news for today. Tao still speaks. Madison Thomas spoke our quotes this time. Audrey Davis is our artist. Molly Hartwell sings her song, “Put Your Roots Down.” Fortress Press holds the copyright for quotations from my Tao Te Ching translation. Thanks to you for your attendance in this class on Taoism. May your days begin in peace, and become wombs for radical hope.