Talk about spirituality with someone and it quickly gets into what they think God is. Christians are big on sin, Jesus, heaven and hell. Hindus have hundreds of gods to choose from. Buddhists have no god, but some have Bodhisattvas and reincarnation. Sikhs and Baha'i will tell you there is only one god and that we are all one humanity. All of this leads to a circular discussion between the questions, “What IS there?” and “Who am I?”
I see little use for spirituality except how it considers the questions:
What is the best way to lead my life?
What can I learn from spirituality that will help me to live a better life?
I like to think that everyone has some idea of right and wrong, and what is good or bad behavior. There is a lot of common sense in ethics and morality. It shouldn't take a commandment from God for us to know that killing others, stealing from them, lying about them, etc., is just a bad idea and comes with unhappy consequences.
Questions I ask for myself:
Is there something useful to be found in spirituality?
Is there something in a spiritual or religious teaching that will help me to live better and with greater purpose?
How will it help me to meet the hard realities of daily life and cope with defeat and loss?
Everywhere we turn, the world is telling us that weʻre not good enough, not rich enough, not good looking enough, too old, too young, or just plain inadequate. How can spirituality help when I am depressed?
What real use is spirituality anyway?
My first “go-to” these days is the wisdom I find in the Tao te Ching (pronounced Dow Day Ching). The Tao te Ching is a collection of poetic wisdom, philosophy and advice. The Tao is not God, nor is the Tao even defined in the Tao te Ching.
“The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.”
Chapter 1, Tao te Ching, Stephen Mitchell version
This is the very first line in the first chapter of the Tao te Ching. Other versions will also say that the Tao cannot be described. Like Brahman in Hinduism, the Tao cannot be defined, is infinite and unknowable. But in the interest of discussion, I will repeat what a religions professor told me. He described the Tao as the ordering principle by which the universe operates. Everything has its nature. It is the nature of 3-day-old puppies to pee on the floor. It is the nature of cast iron skillets to rust if let to sit with water in it. It is the nature of tigers and lions that they find credible, the idea that you are edible. The laws of physics describe the fundamental nature of the physical world.
The ideal in Taoist philosophy, is to not oppose nature. Actions which are forced against nature, use more energy than they need to. You go farther swimming downstream than upstream. If you have to go upstream, isnʻt it easier to swim to shore and walk?
In Taoist thought, the ideal is called wu wei, “effortless action.” The idea is that when you are acting completely in accordance with the nature of anything, then you will be using the least energy possible to accomplish your intent. More than just being in harmony with nature, you are acting without force against it.
For instance, it makes my life easier to recognize the nature of a thing and accept it for that. In my neighborhood, many people let their dogs run loose. They are territorial and can be threatening when you go for a walk. Instead of fighting with the neighbors or calling Animal Control, I accept that this is the nature of my neighborhood that dogs run loose. When I go for a walk, I take a small bag of doggie biscuits with me because itʻs been my experience that dogs are often very food motivated. After 3 or 4 doggie biscuits, a lot of dogs calm down.
Unless youʻve been hiding under a rock for the last 30 years or so, youʻve seen an ever-growing cultural divide in America. Realize that it is the nature of humans to be tribal. It is totally ineffective to scream and get angry at those on the other side. You certainly canʻt change them, but you do have the choice on how you wish to act and live. Instead of being upset at how people on the other side behave and believe, expending endless energy in argument, you can live your life doing what you do best and making a difference that way.
The greatest victory is that which requires no battle.”
Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”
The way I work as a hospice chaplain is another example of doing less and accomplishing more.
As a hospice chaplain, I am a companion and listener to those at the end-of-life, as well as their caregivers and family. Death and severe illness makes people uncomfortable. People often tell me they donʻt know how I can do hospice work. Life is a package deal and an end-of-the-road is part of the package. I have accepted that my life is finite because this is nature.
The Tao te Ching does not command us as to what we should not do, but rather hints at a better way to live. Each version is just a poetic interpretation, not a word for word translation from the ancient Chinese. The Stephen Mitchell version is very well known, but my go-to was written by William and Nancy Martin, and is titled: “The Caregiverʻs Tao te Ching.”
“Trying to be kind, we end up interfering.
Trying to be helpful, we end up tinkering,
pushing, and generally being of no help at all.
True kindness appears when our true nature
touches the true nature of another person.
True helpfulness appears
when we are both simply together in the moment.
At this point we share the feeling
of compassionate awareness.”
Chapter 19, “The Caregiverʻs Tao te Ching”
When I visit with a hospice patient, I don't have to be clever and know all the right words to say to make someone feel better. I am the most effective by acting as the compassionate person I am and just being present. By listening and caring to know who the patient is, I give them voice and the knowledge that someone cares who they are.
“There are no fixed rules of caregiving
that will assure us of being right
instead of wrong.
Intuition must be our trusted guide,
though it may lead us
down unknown paths.
An open mind is our greatest asset,
using every circumstance for good
and turning every mistake into benefit.
A receptive heart is our refuge.
Giving and receiving care
become the same experience.
This is the great secret of caregiving.”
Chapter 27, “The Caregiverʻs Tao te Ching.”
The Tao te Ching offers wisdom on how to lead a better life. It has a lot in common with the beginning of The Serenity Prayer. The first line suggests that we not struggle needlessly.
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.”
“Be like water making its way through cracks. Do not be assertive, but adjust to the object, and you shall find a way around or through it. If nothing within you stays rigid, outward things will disclose themselves.
Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”
Bruce Lee, Kung Fu martial artist, actor
I don’t think there is anything magical about the idea that everything has its nature. That's just rational. What is useful is the idea that we can best live our lives by accepting nature and not forcing anything against it. This doesn't mean we live passively, but rather that when we act, we do so in full recognition of the nature of things.
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I feel that spirituality has to help us in our daily lives, otherwise it’s just so much window dressing and posturing. It should be applied to the most difficult subjects.
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Hi Russ ~ I thoroughly enjoyed this post and your description of the “nature of things”. It sure takes out divisive religiosity of interpretations. And, it is simpler to observe, even if there are no conclusions drawn at the time. The phrase, “Back to nature” comes to mind, as a lens of direct experience.
Another perspective that I find interesting and tantalizing is the sense of ease in connecting with the nature of things. Many of us (at least in the US) have had religious speakers talk about “God up there”, the Allness, the Holy. All of which is touted as unreachable and “other” worldly. In short, so far above us that we (who are so deeply hindered by our humanness and lack of evolution), can only at best find our way to the door but not enter into openness with the “On High”.
I also love the idea of the energy it takes to go “against” nature. I never considered “negativity” as a gravitational pull against positive flow. Somehow with new vocabulary, there is a conspicuous lack for the need of moral judgment. Whew! We all know that pushing and pulling large rocks instead of rolling them is a waste of time and energy, just as a metaphor.
And lastly, what about Love? This word, especially capitalized has become a catch-basket for any viewpoint that wants to assert itself as better-deeper, the “One and only” saving grace. With the nature of things, it is so easy to see beauty (of all dimensions) and to notice the aliveness that exists. Something as simple as a lovely flower that weaves in the breeze, showing its colors, textures, fragrance, and then noticing the surrounding ground that supports it growth – with a feeling of communion and appreciation for being there to see it, just in that moment – the magic of serendipity and a sense of communion with All That Is.
And then of course, back to the realities we live in – yet with a fond intuitive memory of something true and sweet. Ahh. Thank you, Russ! Mary