The Path Of The Tao 2.0

Like I've said before,

The Tao is the foundation of all of our work and the reason for that is that the Tao represents the fundamental nature of the universe,

The origin,

The creator.

So the good part about that is that the experience of the Tao is a very physical experience rather than a spiritual experience.

You might find that strange for me to say,

But I'm going to go through that with you this morning.

But the physical experience of it allows it to be acceptable to all belief systems so that you don't need to believe what I believe or what anybody else is preaching or believing in religious beliefs,

But even there's dogmatic spiritual beliefs as well.

The Tao is simply about making the most of living on this planet and it's nature based and therefore no matter what your belief system is,

It is a practice and an idea and a tool and a way that you can immerse.

The Tao is the path to happiness.

Of course,

Our beliefs lead us to happiness,

But in day to day experience,

The Tao loosely translated means your path or your life's journey and the Tao is experienced by all.

So we are all walking the Tao and the moment we chose to come and have a life on earth,

We chose to walk the Tao.

I don't see the Tao as being part of our non-physical or spiritual experience,

Whatever that looks like,

But it is very much based on what we do on this planet here,

On this planet earth.

The Tao is natural energies so that you'll already be familiar with fire and earth and water and lake and wind and all of them.

There are eight natural energies and they join together to form the Tai Chi,

Which is that symbol that we're all so familiar with.

The Tao has been on our planet since the dawn of time.

So whatever your creation story is,

The Tao is part of that creation story.

I write children's books and I happen to know that the dragonfly has been on our planet for 350 million years and it's still the same dragonfly,

It's just a little bit smaller.

So if we think of the Tao as being on our planet before there was any life on the planet,

There was wind,

There were lakes,

There was water,

There was a perspective of heaven,

There was a sense of earth.

So it's very much part of the creation of this planet that is providing this opportunity for us to have our life experience.

So the Tao is a natural energy experience and we're walking the Tao,

Whether we're aware of it or whether we're not aware of it.

The Tao is the process by which the universe expresses itself.

It teaches that the only constant in life is change and change is about accepting movement in your life with ease,

Allowing for transformation,

Accepting your path,

Living in the here and now and embracing the moment.

So you can see that the Tao is very much about the physical experience,

Accepting movement in your life with ease,

Allowing for the transformation that comes from the result of the change,

Accepting the transformation,

Accepting the path,

Being in the moment.

It is only from the moment that we are creating our life.

Life is not created from the past nor from the future.

This moment now,

This you being here now is setting the table,

Setting the path,

Creating the transformation for your future life.

So you choosing to even participate in a program such as this has altered your path.

Embracing the moment,

There is so much in the Tao that is all about acceptance,

That is all about non-resistance,

That is all about being allowing of what is happening.

The big part of the Tao is knowing you are walking the Tao and the Tao is the path of change,

The Tao is the path of transformation,

Nothing will stay the same.

This is how we grow,

We call it personal growth,

But this is also the path of spiritual evolution.

This is the path of having the incarnation that your soul intended,

The Tao.

The key understandings of the Tao,

The foundational teachings are connection,

Connection between you,

Everyone,

Everything,

Living things,

Inanimate things,

Connection,

Balance,

Understanding that when one part is out of balance,

All parts,

They are affected and flow,

Non-resistance to what is going on around you.

Let's think about connection,

Let's think about our spiritual connection,

Whatever that might be.

Let's think about our connection to our inner circle,

Our friends and families.

Let's think about our connection through our work,

Whether it's at your high school with your students,

Think about that connection.

Let's think about the connection between us and the broader world,

The world at large.

Think about our connection to animals,

Think about our connection to plants,

Connection to inanimate objects.

Everything is energy,

Everything is made up of the same atoms,

There's a nucleus and there's electrons and every single thing,

Even the chair that you're sitting on is made up of those same atoms.

We have a connection and so that as we walk the Tao,

As we walk our path,

There is responsibility in terms of our connection,

Our connection to what is unseen,

Our connection to what is right in front of us,

Our connection through our heart,

Our connection through our mind.

And so that as we speak of the expansion of your own personal energy zone and the collapse of your own personal energy zone,

As you move around in expansion,

You are taking responsibility for your connection in a way that benefits all.

As you move around in collapse,

You are impacting the Tao in that way,

So that you know those feelings when you're walking around and people are looking at you and smiling at you and the cashier at the grocery store was just so happy to see you on that day.

And then you know your expansion in the other day,

When you've got your hat pulled down and your collars up and you've got your dark jacket on,

You know,

You're affecting in a different way.

So the Tao brings with it responsibility for that connection to responsibility for our own energy and how we will interact as we walk the Tao,

The path to purpose and a beautiful life.

You know,

Balance is an interesting thing because balance is as micro as just how you are feeling on that day.

And balance is as macro as what is happening in that part of the world is affecting us in this part of the world.

The piece that we have responsibility and control over is looking after our own energetic balance so that,

You know,

When you are unbalanced,

You're affecting those people you live with,

Those people you love,

Those people you work with.

There is responsibility,

Too,

In ensuring that your own balance is in place.

The profound beauty of learning yourself at this level,

Learning your soul path,

Understanding your governing soul member at this level,

Because it gives you balance.

It gives you the direction to walk your path to purpose and a beautiful life.

It's all leading towards that fulfillment of your role on this planet as you walk the Tao.

And so the connection and the balance can see how important that is as a celebrant,

Whether you've chosen to do grief work,

Weddings,

Whichever way you decide to go,

Knowing yourself at this level.

I mean,

It just makes you better.

But you can see the underlying piece of it is that you are in the flow of the Tao.

And all of the things you've learned about the trigrams,

About your soul path,

About all of that is only about getting you into the flow.

And that's the third foundational teaching of the Tao,

Non-resistance to what is going on around you.

You know,

I just feel that perhaps flow is the penultimate lesson of life.

With the ultimate lesson of life being learning the passing over.

So flow is right up there.

Flow is all of our words,

Non-resistance,

Being allowing,

Being accepting,

Understanding that whatever comes at you is coming at you to help you walk your path,

To help you walk the path of the Tao.

To make this difference in your life,

In the lives of those close to you,

But energetically to affect the world.

The things that you do radiate out.

And it starts with understanding non-resistance.

Non-resistance.

The Tao is made up of the eight trigrams of natural energy.

So as you flow through the Daily Pulse,

You'll get quite familiar with them.

Wendy,

I have a couple of courses on Insight Timer,

Which take you deeper into the Daily Pulse as well.

So the trigrams,

The eight trigrams combined together to form the Tai Chi.

So that's our infinity symbol.

You know,

I can remember back in the seventies,

You know,

The yin yang symbol was everybody everywhere and nobody knew what it meant.

And it's taken me what,

40 years to understand the magic of the Tai Chi.

So we've got thunder and we've got lake and we've got mountain and wind,

Water and fire,

Earth and heaven.

As we understand each of the parts of these trigrams,

It will help us to understand change.

You know,

If there's only one constant in life,

And that is change.

You can see how getting yourself,

Taking responsibility for your connection,

Getting yourself in the flow,

Living with balance,

Helps you remain,

If you wish,

Happy within the flow of change.

So that life comes at us,

Listen,

We signed up for it and things happen.

The change is caused by the interaction of the trigrams to each other.

And so you will learn in depth about the trigrams,

But the way that thunder interacts with lake and lake interacts with thunder are two very different energetic environments that you flow in.

The way that mountain interacts with heaven,

Heaven interacts with water.

It's all creating change.

And remember that these fundamental energies have been on our planet since the dawn of time.

Change,

It was always going to be a journey of change.

And so your life,

It becomes a process of accepting and working within the flow of positive expanding energy and negative collapsed energy between the Tai Chi and the eight trigrams of nature.

You know,

As you accept your soul's desire for a life experience,

You also understand that this planet that you live on is a creative environment.

With your free will,

You are creating your life.

And so the tools that Janice and Kathy are giving you are connection,

Balance and flow,

The understanding of the Tao.

They're giving you the trigrams,

The light of the trigrams versus the dark of the trigrams and how to reach for the light,

Intention,

Affirmation,

Prayers,

All of those kinds of things.

And then on top of that,

So this is understanding the planet.

This is understanding the environment that you are sitting in.

But now too,

You have this deep understanding of self,

Of your soul path,

The way you want it to be in this lifetime.

All of this guides you to your purpose and there could be nothing more joyful than living your purpose.

And so I'm excited for you.

I feel a bit emotional now.

I can really see the unfolding for you as you walk this path through understanding the Tao,

Through understanding yourself,

Through the manifestation of purpose in what am I going to do with my life.

Congratulations for making this soul choice.