The way that can be spoken of
Is not the constant way;
The name that can be named
Is not the constant name

The nameless was at the beginning of heaven and earth;
The named was the mother of myriad creatures.
Hence always rid yourself of desires in order to observe its secrets;
But always allow yourself to have desires in order to observe its manifestations.

These two are the same
But diverge in the name as they issue forth.
Being the same they are called mysteries,
Mystery upon mystery -
The gateway of the manifold secrets. – Tao-Te Ching

Greetings to you all, January all but over, some of us who are in a place where they would rather not be but sort of have to are in a rush to see this year end so they can ‘carry on with the rest of their lives’ I know exactly how that feels cos I couldn’t wait to get out of articles. In my humble words of advice to u guys would be, this year will pass, like the last and the next, the key though would be to live it, and learn as much as you can from it. And there is so much you can learn in 365 days! Put a positive spin on it. What can I experience, whose life can I affect positively, what can I do this day that I have been given to make a positive change the lives of those around me or to my own…

Anyway sermon over, another couple of additions, Munier and Nyameko, guys welcome, should there be any comments or suggestions please go to www.mondaymail.blogspot.com or alternatively u could email me directly. If at any stage u wish to be removed kindly drop me a line and ur wish shall be my command.

I think at the end of last year sometime I mentioned that I have been kinda fascinated with the whole teaching of Buddha etc. and was reading a book by the Dalai Lama. Another religion/belief or spiritual teaching that I found pretty fascinating was Taoism, I was thinking about it the other day, then what happened was I was chatting with my brother Nana and he mentioned if I had heard about it, I said, yip, was thinking about it the other day, but wasn’t too sure what it was about…enter this weeks email. Why is there so much conflict in the world today, well mainly cos we don’t understand each other, or don’t want to step beyond or comfort zones called me and my little world. Step out, get to know what makes people tick, accept and understand their differences as they should yours and what a wonderful world this would be. Hey I am Pisces apparently I am a dreamer so indulge me. I know I cant change the world, but I can change my world!

So Taoism, sheesh there is so much on it on the net. Apparently it’s practiced by 20 million people, mostly in Taiwan/China. ‘It embodies the harmony of opposites (i.e. there would be no dark without light, no love without hate, no male without female, no me without u (ok I added that)’ [internet website]

Taoism was started by Lao-Tse (604-531 BCE) who lived around the same time as Confucius who said…He was pretty tired of all the conflict and wars in the world that he wrote a book called Tao-te-Ching. His teachings are a combination of psychology and philosophy but in 440 CE it along with Buddhism and Confucianism became the state religions of China. For many years post 1911 when the Ch’ing dynasty ended the warlords and the prevailing government set about destroying what had taken many years to develop. Many monks were reduced to slave laborers, many of the temples were destroyed, artifacts destroyed…but that’s the history, now onto some of the beliefs, concepts and practices…as I interpreted them in some instances ;-). Taoism is the foundation of many practices enjoyed by many of us such as acupuncture, herbalism, holistic medicine, meditation and martial arts

Tao, what some of consider God, is believed to be the alpha and the omega of the universe, it is what came first…it’s a force that flows through all life. I guess my comparison with God may be somewhat incorrect as Taoists don’t believe that Tao can be personified either as an image or a particular thing. Tao is broadly defined as the “mysterious natural order of the universe”. Tao is symbolized by the Yin and yang (yin-yang) symbol. Which looks like the picture below:

I found the definition of yin-yang very deep. Yin is associated with darkness, femininity, passivity, water, being (life)…and Yang is associated with light, masculinity, activity, air and non-being (death). Basically what it states is that all elements like or opposites do not exist without each other. But even opposites aren’t always absolute opposites, they are relative, for example there is no love with out hate etc. Yin and Yang cannot exist without the other, once again no darkness without light, death without life.

Each Yin and Yang can be further divided into a Yin and Yang, basically there are degrees within the degrees, an example they use is temperature being hot or cold, but then the hot being warm or burning and the cold being cool or icy. Yin and Yang are generally in balance but when an imbalance occurs, there is either an excess of either or a deficiency of either. Yin can turn into Yang, which makes sense, night…day, warm…cold, a further ripper is that Yin and Yang can coexist, cos just like its warm here in SA its freezing up North. What the dots in the Yin and Yang symbolize is the fact that there is always one in the other, a Yin is not always a Yin and vice versa.

In the opening paragraph I mentioned a couple of practices, acupuncture, meditation etc. Taoists believe in Chi. Chi translated to mean air or breath. It refers to the energy flow or life force. Taoists believe that all of life’s balance is determined or controlled by the quality, quantity and balance of Chi. Chi is the giver of life, its quality and movement determines the quality of your life and health. Its all about regulating the flow of Chi, this is done by regulating your breathing, hence the practices such as Yoga, Tai Chi, acupuncture, meditation…Breathing allows chi to flow through out the body, giving life and encouraging good health, energy etc. Chi even manifests itself in placement and arrangement of space, something that has become commercially known. The concept of Feng Shui, I think I wrote about it a few weeks/months ago. Chi along with Yin and Yang as well as the 5 elements (water, fire, wood, metal and earth)

Something that I found interesting to read was Taoists view about death and the afterlife. Their take is so simple. Life and death are a reality, death is a transposition from a state of being to non-being. All we can do is accept life and death as complimentary aspects of Tao. Don’t fear nor desire death. And that’s it!

Taoism is all about compassion, moderation and humility. They believe time is cyclical not linear (hence belief in the afterlife). It teaches us to plan in advance and consider things carefully before acting. It teaches us to be kind to others because it more than likely will be reciprocated, when a higher level of Taoism is reached, we tend to act without accepting reciprocation. It teaches all living things not to strive, struggle or oppose. It teaches the practice of ‘wu-wei’ (non-action) which implies doing things in such a way that it goes unnoticed. “perfect activity leaves no track behind it; perfect speech is like a jade worker whose tool leaves no mark”

I could write forever but I am tired and hopefully u r not yet bored, this is interesting stuff I think. It makes sense in my mind.

Nice seeing you guys in Cape Town last weekend. FTV was a ripper, so too was going to the office on Friday.

Birthdays
28th Gareth and Belinda
29th Lyndal
31st Refiloe R

My quote for the year thus far is:

When one door closes another door opens; but we so often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door, that we do not see the ones which open for us.
- Alexander Graham Bell

That’s me for this week. Maximum respect!

Y