A reckoning awaits us all. We may wonder how far along the road we’ve come, and whether our steps align with the spirit’s intention. 
By tuning in to that quiet inner voice with compassion, we’ve learned to follow its guidance after years of what could only be called inward training. Over time, we realize that the universe, nature, the stars, heaven, and earth are all guiding us, shaping the lessons we’re meant to learn—through both the good and the bad in our lives.
As the I Ching teaches, yin and yang are the core forces shaping how we see the world and guiding the key shifts in our lives, existing so we can recognize our true source when it reveals itself to us.
When someone says, “I reckon this” or “I reckon that” they’re usually expressing their belief that, all things being equal, the status quo supports what they think will happen in the long run. In other words, their best guess matches what they expect the final outcome to be. The thing is, not everything is equal or meant to be the same. Nature gives and provides us both growth and change. When we first accept within ourselves that this growth and change are inevitable, we can then harness the energy that comes from our own unique traits.
Why wu wei is neither passivity nor impulsiveness, but the middle way of wise, mindful action and to be present. Why I like the calming influence of meditation and walking around my flower beds early in the morning as the sun rises that signals another day is here.A reckoning is about discovering shared values that help promote the common good. I believe it’s in those moments of clarity and stillness, when we teach and guide others, that a universal alignment emerges from connecting to a common Source.
This doesn’t mean we should focus on making others agree with our views but rather show our intent through our actions. It leads us to further defining for ourselves the true meaning of virtue. An opening statement from Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching says the great Tao, or Dao, is formless. It gives rise to and sustains heaven and earth, as it takes shape through us.
It tells us that the Tao exists within us and in all things, described earlier as the universal harmony that arises from connecting to a shared Source through nature and natural virtue. This happens through what’s called our “unified qi.” I think of qi as our breath and the intention to seek and nourish our spirit—an endless, immeasurable force. From within, we strive for harmony that renews and creates all things as the story below conveys how difficult it can be when envy can raise its head to counter good.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Eight – Explaining Conjunctions
149. The Perfect Pigeon
Yang Chu says that if benefit goes out from you the fruits will return to you. If resentment goes forth from you only harm will come back to you. What can he be saying except that one should not contend with others? That contention can only bring resentment. 
That he is reminded of all the great men of letters of the day. Confucius and Lao‑tzu, the best examples of those who were driven away due to false charges and envy.
Lao‑tzu learning that what may seem apparent as right and wrong only serves to show that right and wrong cannot exist for one and not another. What the shaman always has understood as the basis of the natural order ordained in the ten thousand things.
If you do not “fit in” with your contemporaries what can occur but harm that keeps you from finding your way? That whatever is required that assists in your ultimate awakening or unveiling can only lead to finding your true endeavor and destiny. Is this not often the precursor of the sage retreating to mountaintops and seclusion? With patience and perseverance and waiting for final outcomes to reveal themselves the final order of the day.
Knowing that it is only when you lose your identity and some sense of self‑importance that the way can become clear. That what comes from within and is answered from without is mere passion. Therefore, if the wise man is careful of what he lets out, cannot this but serve to make his destination become all too apparent. Yang Chu tells of a fellow known as Yen Wu, who had just recently completed study of the early Classic the I Ching that is commonly referred to as the “Book of Change”. In the process a transformation began that would change his direction, or way, forever. 
He had been a well‑respected shaman giving advice to the betterment of all in the state of Chi working in a city of many thousand.
Soon rising to the rank of senior adviser in anticipation of the retirement of an older gentleman who had been in the position for over forty years. These “advisers” were common in ancient China as they gave advice that corresponded to the placement of the stars and where things stood in the universe.
Often adept at reading the yarrow sticks or on special occasions the cracks of the tortoise shell. Yen Wu had all the attributes of a great sage in the making.
While he was extremely capable, he was deeply resented by some he worked with who saw him as simply an outsider who was not from their community. His good advice and place were not fully appreciated by those who were bound by ego and their own vision of things to come. A city dominated by politics and an internal sense of self‑importance that put who you knew and how well you fit in far above any best intentions or talent. The major job requirement being that you were somebody’s cousin or uncle or another family member of the local politicians. Yen Wu was simply in the way. Reminding him of both Confucius and Lao tzu who had travelled similar paths and had been driven away as good advice was not wanted.
While he was extremely capable, he was deeply resented by some he worked with because he was not from the city. A city dominated by politics and an internal sense of self-importance that put who you knew and how much you contributed to the local politicians above any real talent. 
In fact, the major job requirement was that you were a get along‑come along part of the system to begin with. His demise was pre-ordained. A fate common to his contemporaries who often traveled from city to city offering advice.
The only reason Yen Wu had been hired to come to the city was that it had elected an enlightened leader who felt the need to continue building his political base, while bringing in a few advisors and professionals to city government from the outside. Yen Wu had been initially hired for this reason. From the beginning, Yen Wu did not fit in with the office, as the old man soon decided he wanted a younger man to succeed him. Primarily at the urging of others who disliked Yen Wu and constantly conspired to make Yen Wu’s life difficult. Others had run the office while the old man slept at his desk and possessed such an overabundance of ego that they wanted to be in charge.
Soon after Yen Wu had been hired another younger advisor lacking any sense of propriety and representing the worst traits that typified this overly proud and self-absorbed city was hired as well. He was convinced that he could do the job much better than Yen Wu. Feeling that regardless of the fact Yen Wu had been chosen over him to replace the aging shaman, he, not Yen Wu should be given the position held by the aging shaman. He and his friends at work felt he should get the job and they immediately began plotting to overcome Yen Wu. Soon afterward the aging shaman became ill and had to leave.
The secretary, he and others began efforts to undermine Yen Wu. Feeling that regardless of Yen Wu’s position, the younger shaman should have gotten the position having met the primary qualification of other city workers having been a life‑long resident and Yen Wu being just a wandering bureaucrat brought in by the previous administration. They began to plot to eliminate Yen Wu and decided to simply wait for the opportunity to do so. 
Their envy overshadows any good sense they may have had. The younger man had no sense of the natural order of things or the Tao. Only his sense guided by ego and sense of self-importance.
Knowing this resentment was ever‑present, Yen Wu looked elsewhere for some sense of satisfaction away from his job. He became active as the shaman beyond the city in the region and was recognized elsewhere for his talent and ability. The resentments only grew as those Yen Wu worked with in the city did what they could to destroy him. While he looked inward to discover what could come of all this.
Yang Chu says that it was at this time that Yen Wu’s sense of self, of who he was to become, was about to change. A transition was beginning that would change him forever. That this transition occurred during his inward turning to the Tao and especially the I Ching was to be no accident. He was to learn initially that it was not where he was that was as important as who he was and in knowing this where it might lead. For the first time endeavor and destiny became paramount as he began writing as if the universe were calling.
Yen Wu had begun to look inward to the Tao. He had always been quiet and unassuming, with little sense of ego or sense of self-importance that dominated the city’s landscape. In the meantime, Yen Wu had purchased and created a large, beautiful home and had transformed it and its yards into awe inspiring gardens filled with flowers, fruit trees, flora, and fauna. 
He became a well-respected Master Gardener and put his energies into his home and gardens. While tending to work as best he could. Yen Wu finally got what he thought was a small break.
The younger shaman, who was this in name only, who for years had attempted to thwart his every move was forced out due to budget constraints. Instead of helping, this only consolidated those resolved to find friends who could help them to remove this obstacle that kept them from getting their way. They looked to what the city was noted for. They turned to a local politician who was their friend to take the lead in bringing about the downfall of Yen Wu and bring back the younger man. All they needed was a plan and to bide their time. A conspiracy just waiting for events in their favor to fall into place. Conspirators who were seen as good people who had become victims of their own environment. Their only sense of right and wrong was how they could benefit in the end. Is this not what they had learned in their time growing up in the city?
Where the end justifies whatever means needed to succeed. Where anything was okay if end results could be justified. Who was this Yen Wu anyway? He was the perfect target, or pigeon. He had no political ties and no connections that mattered. They knew that he had attempted to avoid politics and just do his job. They considered him a fool. They all laughed as Yen Wu appeared to be absentminded and all they needed to do was to wait and take the advantage that they knew would eventually come.
Into this environment, Yen Wu introduced a wildcard. A foreign element. 
As if he naively thought he could control events. Somehow knowing that the cards had been dealt and he had to play out his hand regardless of the outcome. As he knew some change must occur. To ignite the flame that would set him free to find his ultimate endeavor and destiny.
That all his troubles were connected to where he was. That his writings had taken him to places far beyond where he was now and were telling him to get on to where his destination would lead him. Only now, looking back well after a year had passed, could he begin to reflect on the events that had led to his downfall.
Yen Wu had known from the beginning that inviting this foreign element to the situation was tied to the change that must occur. Although he had no idea beforehand as to what was coming. Of what it might be or to where her being here might lead. However, he knew from the beginning she would be tied to the change that must occur. Only he didn’t know what it would be. Only events waiting for themselves to be played out as the defining moment of a lifetime.
The foreign element providing the perfect cover for the conspirator’s plan. First by convincing her that they were her friends, and that Yen Wu wasn’t. And second, it would be the perfect ruse. She would come and go, while they could be seen as simply coming to her aid. Remaining in the background, they could satisfy their real goal to eliminate Yen Wu. It was all too perfect. All they needed was someone to lie. Then all they had to do was say the lie was true and Yen Wu would be history. They knew who that someone would be. One person had been close by and knew of all the underhandedness that had been going on and had watched as the scales had tipped back and forth between Yen Wu and those who conspired against him.
He was a man of limited ability and far less scruples. He was drawn to the local political scene. Constantly looking for favors and an opportunity to score. His only definition of success being that which would enrich his own pocket and build the false impression of his own self- importance he desperately sought to enhance. Enabling the final events that would later use the foreign element to destroy Yen Wu. Their plan was to occur on a day in mid-May just as Yen Wu was leaving on vacation. Events later to be rehearsed repeatedly to be re‑played and agreed to.
Accusations followed as the conspirators continued their attack. While Yen Wu, upon his return, could find no way to respond. Their word against his. 
The foreign element was only a pawn unable to grasp that everything had been played out to perfection, to Yen Wu’s end. Any harm suggested that may have occurred only a ruse, a sub-rosa or secret to be shared by those who had finally gotten their way. The liar coming forward right on Que.
Yen Wu was vilified in the local press, the editor being a good friend of the local politician who had orchestrated the whole sordid affair. Forced to resign his position, Yen Wu was to lose everything that defined who he once was. After losing it all, his job, his beautiful home, and gardens he had diligently maintained and his respect in the community, Yen Wu could only reflect on what it could all have meant. In the end, he knew that he was simply somewhere in a time he didn’t belong.
Yet he knew that this all had a higher, or much deeper meaning, than the events on the surface foretold. That he wasn’t the ogre, something lower than dirt and that others had orchestrated the events that defined who he had been made out to appear to be. He knew what they had done, and the conspirators all knew that Yen Wu knew that they had destroyed him. They were confident they had finally won, and Yen Wu had been defeated. They had not just wanted Yen Wu to lose his job, they really wanted to destroy him and were confident they had.
In the initial postscript to the story Yang Chu concludes by saying Yen Wu had simply been in the way of the city’s destiny. That being to have the younger assistant accede to the top. What they could not foresee was that their city was crumbling under its own weight. That they were in fact eating their own children and would soon see their population plummet to less than half that it once was. A city married to itself. Its passion for politics, a lust that would define them to their bitter end.
In the final postscript, was not Yen Wu’s destruction simply to serve as the awakening that he was on the edge of discovering all along? Knowing that the conspirators were simply biding their time, did he not himself give them the dagger they used to kill him? Those resentments once corrected can lead to contentment for an eternity. In the end knowing that now since Yen Wu was traveling once again with his old friends is not Yang Chu simply reminding us that where he was yet to travel would be much more important than where he had just been. 8/29/95
Number one hundred forty-nine of one hundred fifty-eight entries.
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