Where to Stop
A quote followed by a reflection.
Quote from the Tao Te Ching:
The eternal Tao is unnamable.
In its simplicity it appears insignificant,
but the whole world cannot contain it.
If rulers would follow it,
their citizens would pay homage.
If the people would follow it,
they would have no need for rulers.
Earth and sky are made one by it,
forming sweet dew drops.
When the Tao expresses itself in creation,
it becomes visible.
If you follow the Tao,
you will understand where to stop.
Knowing where to stop,
you will be free from danger.
The Tao is like a stream
that empties into an ocean.
Reflection:
This quote from ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzo reminds me of the universal vibe.
The universal vibe is not just a vibe between one person and another. It’s not just a great vibe at a musical concert. It’s not even a global vibe generated from collective humanity.
Instead, it’s the primordial vibe from which all other vibes—and all other things—emerge from.
Lao Tzo hits it on the head. Following the universal vibe lets you know when to begin and end. When to go left or right. When to move forward of backward. When to dance and sing, when to sleep and rest.
The paradox, of course, is grasping this ever-allusive universal vibe.
What is it and where is it? Everything and nothing, everywhere and nowhere, all at once.
It cannot be seen, per se. But you can see when people follow it. They have a flow, an ease, a gest, a coolness.
Not necessarily a coolness of hip and swag, jive and sly. But rather a coolness of soul. They and the environment move in motion. As one, be one.
The exterior style of dress and mannerism doesn’t apply. Some cool hipsters can surely move with the universal vibe. But so can quiet literary geeks, awkward computer engineers, and slow gesturing rural gas attendants. The flow precedes and exceeds the form.
But here is the question: How would human society change if we all dedicated ourselves to the universal vibe? What if the universal vibe became our shared touchpoint?
I don’t assume that we’d suddenly have world peace. But there’d be a sincerity and honesty to our individual and collective living. We’d understand that each person is doing what they are moved to do. That itself generates a sense of fellowship, kinship, solidarity. A collective vibe of togetherness. An esprit de corps.
And perhaps that would be enough to rock current systems of control and allow each of us to walk our own paths and sing our own songs.
As Lao Tzo says:
When the people live freely and fearlessly,
virtue will abound.
Source:
Lao Tzo. Tao Te Ching: The Book of the Way. New version by Sam Torode (2021), based on trans. by Dwight Goddard (1919). Pub. Ancient Renewal. Quotes p. 32 and p. 60.
Read more about Lao Tzo at Wikipedia.