This is from the passage sixteen on page 18.
The main thing that I noticed with this passage was that it centered
a lot around the theme of how everything is connected.
You can not have one thing without the other in the world of Tao.
Such as in the first part where it states
"Empty yourself of everything.
Let the mind become still.
The ten thousand things rise and fall while the Self watches
their return.
They grow and flourish and then return to the source.
Returning to the source is stillness, which is the way of nature.
The way of nature is unchanging."
I interpreted this as being Self as something that is observing
yourself/body's journey but that Self is created by the process of
pieces or the Ten thousand things as we know it. This means that
yourself is made up of components of pieces to make a whole/Tao.
That every living thing is made up of dead things to make a whole.
Therefore the natural/biological state of things is death and that
everything returns to and is created from death. With death there
is life and so fourth. If you think about it we then spend more
time being dead then alive and that our Self dies when our body dies
Therefore we should not be worrying about death but appreciating
what we are experiencing in life, To not get so wrapped up in
materialistic things that we can not see the true beauty that
surrounds us everyday. That life is a gift and we should take care
of it not destroy it.
The second part is
"Knowing constancy is insight.
Not knowing constancy leads to disaster.
Knowing constancy the mind is open.
With an open mind, you will be openhearted.
Being openhearted, you will act royally.
Being royal, you will attain the divine.
Being divine, you will be at one with the Tao.
Being at one with the Tao is eternal.
And though the body dies, the Tao will never pass away."
Here I took the word of royally/royal to mean greatness but
greatness is a process. You keep trying to become more and more
great until you reach the top when you realize that nothing
really matters. Once you transcend from the greatness you will
finally realize that you do not have to be great to be enlightened.
You would then be aware of your Self and therefore you will
eventually find Tao. Once you do you will realize how everything
is connected and though individual are one at the same time. With
that knowledge you would begin to appreciate life and no longer
fear death for it is all part of the natural order of things.
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I found your interpretation of the beginning part, where you talked about life and death, very interesting. About how we all mostly go through life dead and when we die it's our selves that die. However, I do not believe that this holds true for everyone. I personally do not fear death, however I do spend some time thinking about it. Which begs the question if you go through life always contemplating death does that make you more dead than alive? If so, then this does go along with your theory. However, I still believe that some people do go though life just living for the moment and death couldn't be further from their minds. So are these people still going through life dead? Or are they the only ones truly living?
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