Always stepping into something called virtue as though following the path, or Way, that has been made clear you are here to travel. As you learn that it is okay to be misunderstood by others. Since I was little growing up, I was seen as different. In the small town of Lamar where we lived first on the farm and then in town, first I was cross eyed and wore a patch over my left eye and wore glasses, I was physically smaller than most of the other kids. I couldn’t ride a bike (never could), seen as different. I went to Massachusetts the summer before second grade and came back with an eastern accent and afterwards didn’t talk like the others either. I learned to do things because I wanted to do them not because I wanted to please others. That trait has always stayed with me.
I learned to let go of the need to try to manage other people’s image or perception of me as if it didn’t matter. I learned very early that I needed to find and follow my own path. This later found me as a freshman in high school at Carl Junction getting a Knight Roamer shortwave radio and beginning to listen to countries all over the world that broadcast in English to America. As the world opened to me, I realized that I didn’t have to align with others and could become who I was, even though that still unclear then. I was aligning with something much greater than who I thought I was at the time.
I developed a passion for politics and especially liked Bobby Kennedy and was told I sounded like him due to my accent. That the way I spoke was not a speech impediment as I had been led to believe. I was different but a part of something greater than who I thought I was. Following his lead, especially after he was killed, I envisioned myself getting involved in politics as something I could do. Later moving to Springfield I ran for and became a state representative in 1978. My intentions were to try to help others but lost the next election as though trying to convince others of my true intentions seemed futile. That looking for guidance and validation could only come from within myself, not from an outside source or other people until I was to find my true path. Eventually becoming a city planner in Massachusetts and neighborhood specialist in Florida, living and teaching in China, before returning to Springfield completing the circle.
Still following my initial book below as number seven of eighteen. The idea at the close of this entry of traveling on the wind with Lieh Tzu, became the inspiration for my next book that would be entitled “My travels with Lieh Tzu”. The never-ending story of our lives as though we are but…
Voices of the Dragon Part 2 Number 7
Falling Droplets into a Clear Pool
As with a drop of water falling falling from an icicle from the roof overhang, each droplet becomes a simple reminder of who we are and from where we came.
The most important aspect of the journey is being able to clear your mind and remain still. Simply to become a transparent pool after the ripple of the water fades into nature’s memory. All the while knowing that the pool will barely catch its breath before the next droplet comes again and again.
Clearing one’s mind for new beginnings and dragons to come is the supreme sacrifice to nature and the true way of eternity. Remain prepared and be found simply cultivating your garden and finding your inner compass. The dragons cannot be bothered with trifles. They shun insincere and inappropriate gestures not in keeping with the true way of virtue. Calling them for tasks beneath their status only delays one’s entry and new beginnings.
As with the little boy who cried wolf one to many times. The end result was he was no more. The journey is ultimately only for those who come to find simply for themselves dancing in the clouds with dragons.
Remember Chuang Tzu’s words and stay on the path of the Perfected Man and his pursuit of perfection through daily meditation, ritual and action.
Keeping to Lieh Tzu as the sage continually developing one’s appetite for the sweetness of honey found in the Tao. Follow the teachings of the immortals. Clearing your mind as you prepare to fly away as if traveling on the wind with Lieh Tzu. 4/13/94
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