We are the pivot, part 2. (Making what appears to be difficult easy)

It all begins from within us. We think again of the meaning of the “I” verses the “not I”. Chuang Tzu’s pivot begins by first seeing things as we see them and then seeing things as others see them. That opposites produce each other, depend on each other, and complement each other. What becomes of nature’s call over time.  

However it happens, it begins by seeing beyond ourselves.

Just as with death, life is followed by death and death is followed by life again. It is what we leave behind that clears our way going forward that’s important. What can be referred to as self-continuity. Doing those things that enhance our future. The possible becomes impossible just as the impossible becomes possible. Right turns into wrong and wrong into right – the flow of life alters circumstances and thus things themselves are altered in their turn as both eternal matter and energy. To learn from the past and remain open to different strategies for the future, so we don’t keep making the same mistakes again.

But those tied to disputes, continue to affirm and to deny the same things they have always affirmed and denied, ignoring the new aspects of reality presented by the change of conditions. What remains constant is the universe, the Tao, even God asking us…

Not be the last to change and to pivot with the circumstances our own nature teaches us to follow.

 We continue trying to prove this point or that point by logical disputation (debate or argument), instead of by seeing all things in the light of direct intuition. 

But from where does this direct intuition derive from. My sense of it I call inner therapy. Beginning with releasing those things that don’t/won’t define us when we look to our highest aspirations.

Where is it our inspiration and intuition are meant to take us? Chuang Tzu reminds us that looking from within our highest aspirations doesn’t mean being happy all the time. It means staring down the barrel of the bad news and deciding to do something about it.

It means being tolerant, confident, and willing to let go of the old institutions or ideas that just don’t work anymore. It is that pivot thing seeing things from within us and responding accordingly. The key is not to be imprisoned by the limitations of the “I” for the viewpoint of direct intuition that is both “I” and “Not I”.  

Seeing both sides of every argument that there is both right and wrong. That in the end differences are reducible to the same thing, once they see that they are relatable to the pivot of Tao and change. To concepts that are hard to grasp when we have seen things from a viewpoint that has not seen the total picture. 

When we can grasp this pivot, we become like the center of a circle where all affirmations and denials converge. From here we become the pivot from which all movements and oppositions can be seen in their right relationships. It is from here we can see the limitless possibilities of both “Yes” and “No”. Remaining limitless, or refraining from taking sides with debates and arguments, we act only from where the light of our direct intuition takes us and to be and do the best we can just for today letting tomorrow take care of itself.   

With references to “The Way of Chuang Tzu” by Thomas Merton. I highly recommend his book for further inspiration and reading.

 

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