When you’re open to exploring new ideas or rediscovering old ones waiting to emerge, you often come across words that lead you to places you’ve never been or need to go but haven’t yet imagined. Before getting to Chapter eight of The Book of Lieh Tzu and what was to become My travels with Lieh Tzu, I had never come across the word conjunction, more or less it’s meaning. It was the end of July 1995, and I was 43 years old at the time. I had been in Boynton Beach for about four months and had been writing every day now for two and a half years.
My writing had become a dual purpose as I had become both the student of this ancient Taoist philosophy and teacher (basically teaching myself as I went). That what I was reading was becoming and/or reminding me who I have always been as a primer to jog my memories and to add to what I thought I knew or had forgotten.
So, I come to this word conjunction and continue writing as though I had always known it’s meaning. It means the random or effect of chance combinations which make every situation unique that can decide both whether an action is right and how others interpret its motives. Another way to look at serendipity. Letting the written word, both what we read and write, guide us to where we are meant to follow or go.
The lesson or moral in learning about conjunctions is that we should let go of rigid standards and adapt to external situations, just as a shadow follows its body. Whether we should be active or passive depends on external factors, not solely on ourselves. Learning to see things from a different or new perspective. Years later this is what I loved most about teaching English in China as a second language.
Exploring the meaning of words and how they are used to describe events from different angles. My students would often use English to describe something, and the way they used certain words was different from how I had heard them used before. It wasn’t wrong, just not aligned with common usage. It taught me a valuable lesson, and I believe it made me a better teacher.
Conjunctions are words that join phrases, clauses, or words within a sentence, helping us to communicate interconnected and complex things coherently. There are three main types of conjunctions: coordinating, correlative, and subordinating.
- Coordinating conjunctions, often represented by the acronym FANBOYS (for, and, nor, but, or, yet, and so), connect words, phrases, or independent clauses of equal grammatical importance in a sentence.
- Correlative conjunctions operate in pairs—such as either/or and neither/nor—framing grammatically equivalent elements in order to connect clauses that together form a complete thought.
- Subordinating conjunctions, including although, because, that, and while, connect a dependent clause to the independent clause of a sentence, indicating a specific logical relationship between the two.
Chapter Eight is the longest and final chapter of “My Travels with Lieh Tzu.” 
Every entry is meant to illustrate the use of conjunctions in a little different way and can be seen as a teaching tool to see things in a different light or way. In our daily interactions, we often fall into the habit of using only a limited set of words. We naturally gravitate toward people who share our views, which can restrict our vocabulary to what we think we already know.
It’s important to remember that this chapter of the Lieh Tzu was written over two thousand years ago, during a time when words were a vital learning tool, and vocabulary and self-expression carried a different significance than they do today. The story below is one of my favorites.
My travels with Lieh Tzu / Interpolations along the Way
Chapter Eight – Explaining Conjunctions
106. Introduction…. Coming Forward by Staying Behind
Making sense out of chance combinations which make each situation unique. Coming forward to decide both whether an action is right and how others may interpret our motives. Being led only by what you have learned from Lieh Tzu and the others. 
To be guided only by spontaneity. To discard any fixed standard which adheres to the status quo or anything unwilling to change. To follow each event and external situation as the shadow follows the body.
Only then responding as the knowing sage either actively or passively however each situation dictates. Unconcerned with outcomes that may follow or in whose favor the results may seem.
Keeping to chance. Knowing that the combination of events as they occur will find no winners in the end. Knowing that since there can be no right or wrong way to determine who may benefit you simply follow your own inner voice and look to your own internal truths for any answers that may come.
Just as Lieh Tzu explains, as he was studying under his mentor, Hu Tzu and questioned where he should stand. Hu Tzu told him that when he learned to keep to the rear, he could then begin to teach him how to behave.
Lieh Tzu asked: “Please tell me about keeping to the rear?”
Hu Tzu replied that Lieh Tzu should begin by looking back at his shadow and he would then soon understand.
Lieh Tzu looked around and watched his shadow. When his figure bent, his shadow was crooked. When his figure stood upright his shadow was straight. So that we know whether to bend or stand upright rests with the shadow; and whether we should be active, or passive depends not on ourselves but other things. This is what is meant by ‘staying at the front by keeping to the rear’.
Understanding conjunctions and knowing to sit back and let events unfold for themselves. Yet always being where you should be in the end. 7/28/95
Number one hundred twenty-three of one hundred fifty-eight entries.
Leave a Reply