When I wrote the entry below in late March 1995, I would have already left the job as Town Planner in West Warwick, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts and traveled to Boynton Beach, Florida where I was to begin as a city planner in a week or so. I think the entry below is amazing. I was clearly in transition to another state and a new job. It was like letting go and entering a flow that knew no bounds.
It felt like my writing was leading me into the unknown by spirit, and inner knowing was willingly going along for the journey—perhaps on a voyage of self-discovery. If you’re reading this, pause and read the entry ‘The sway of nature” below before continuing. It felt like an unspoken map guiding me along its course. If not for this, what would I do?
To be read as though you were practicing meditation, start by trying to clear your mind, even if only for a moment. Avoid viewing things with preconceptions or fixed ideas that they must align with a certain way of thinking. Instead, opening your heart and mind to new thoughts. You can choose to return to where you were or explore something new. To as Herman Hesse once told us that “Truth is to be lived, not taught and that we should long for the perfection of ourselves. That the deity we seek is within us.” Hesse is one of my most favorite writers/authors… Siddhartha comes to mind.
I had been writing for just over two years when I found myself fully immersed in what could only be described as living in the flow of the unknown. Moving to a new state and starting a new job felt like diving headfirst into what seemed to lead to one ultimate purpose. Two years later, in April and May 1997, we would take our first trip to China to adopt our first daughter Kate in Maoming.
Soon after beginning to work as a city planner, I had this idea/dream of building a US/China Chinese designed Friendship Park in Boynton Beach. While the park never materialized, it had a life changing impact on me. In the last entry I spoke about being in the flow of one’s life and living spontaneously, I think I was…
Over the years, particularly during my time in China or Qufu, I often reflected on this entry below whenever I thought about the path I had taken. It wasn’t so much about questioning as it was about staying in the flow, trusting the next door would open, and always having confidence that it would. It was always tied to following Lao, Chuang, and Lieh Tzu, the Tao, embracing spontaneity, living authentically, and my writing, which held the key to unlocking the door. As I, like so many others can only ask the eternal question, “How is it that man becomes civilized?”
Thirty years ago, Marie and I had just moved to Florida. She started working at Eckerd Pharmacy, which would later become CVS, while I took on the role of Assistant Planner for the City of Boynton Beach. It was to be the start of an incredible journey.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Four – Confucius
66. The Sway of Nature
Knowing and not knowing. In accord with all things, with all things remaining 
forever equal. The final sway of nature is never a concern in the end.
To be as Kuan yin says:
“If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves. Moving, be like water. Still, be like a mirror. Respond as an echo.”
One asks, how can this be so? The answer is simple. The Way is in constant accord with all other things. To be like a droplet of water flowing down life’s current unconcerned with the events around you, only going along for the ride.
Following life’s current, not swimming upstream against things as they should be. Unconcerned with using eyes and ears or the mind to find the way to follow. Always letting events determine whatever outcome may come. Seeing without sight. Hearing without ears. Knowing without knowledge. Where then, can be the Way?
The gatekeeper Kuan yin reminds us:
“Peer at it in front of you suddenly it is behind you. Use it, and it will fill every quarter of the void; neglect it, and you will never know where it is.
It is not something that the presence of the mind can dismiss and can bring nearer. It is grasped only by one who grasps it in silence and lets it mature naturally.
To know without passion, be able but not do is truly knowing and truly being able.
Discard ignorance and how can you feel passion? Discard inability and what can you do?”
To remain as the dirt beneath your feet as you walk. Yet doing nothing just doing by being. Knowing that without the dirt or earth there could be no flowers to beautify your surroundings nor food to sustain you. Remaining forever constant, simply in nature’s sway. 3/26/95…
As I ask myself now thirty years later… If not for this, what would I do?
Number sixty-six of one hundred fifty-eight entries.
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