Tag: lao tzu

Weekend Oracle: It’s Different

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May is National Meditation Month. I’m going back to where my blogging began with one card daily meditation readings all month long.

Today’s card is “The Patient” from Seven Dane Asmund’s Alleyway Oracle of Secrets, created by artist “a paranoid zombie” used used here with permissions from Publishing Goblin LLC

Right away the keywords that light up are about “the acceptance of things as they really are, not the version we wished them to be.”

This is a life lesson that comes to us both from Tarot and Taoism. Think of the classic Chinese painting The Three Vinegar Tasters which has been a lifelong philosophical touchstone for me

Very loosely, the figures represent the three major philosophies of ancient China. Confucius finds the vinegar bitter, and his solution is to teach the vinegar makers better knowledge and technique. Buddha finds the vinegar too sour, and his solution is to learn to deal with the unacceptable flavor. Lau Tzu, the mythical writer of the Tao Te Ching just smiles – because the vinegar tastes just exactly like vinegar.

It is what it is and that is exactly as it should be.

That is acceptance. But critically – acceptance is very different than acquiescence.

Just because you acknowledge and accept the harsh reality of a situation does NOT mean that you’ve given in to it. It doesn’t mean that it is impossible to change or to move forward into a new set of conditions.

The first step in solving a problem is accepting that it exists. The next step is to understand – and accept – what the problem really is. Then you can get to solving the problem and fixing things.

Acceptance is a first step, not the end result.

To take a journey of a thousand miles, the first step has to happen.

For the first step to happen, accepting the existence of the journey is required.

May your journey be a happy one this weekend.

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2024 as you make up your mind for it to be

Weekend Substack: The Sun Tarot card, Lincoln, and Lau Tzu

He probably didn’t actually say it, but Abraham Lincoln is often quoted as saying “people are as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

I find it true, but more nuanced than it seems.

It isn’t about conjuring up pleasant feelings from nothing in a rose-glasses toxic positive kind of way.

Oh no, my friend. It is much worse than that.

Making up your mind to be happy is more likely about accepting your circumstances for what they are and allowing the natural contentment and happiness come out. Happiness is allowed, not created.

Time and again life points back to one painting for me. Not one painting but one allegorical theme in traditional Chinese paintings: The Vinegar Tasters.

The painting shows Buddha, Confucius and Lau Tzu (author of the Tao Te Ching, the originator of Taoist philosophy) Buddha and Confucius are making faces while Lao Tzu smiles. It’s been said that they think they vinegar tastes sour, bitter and sweet respectively.

That’s not quite it.

Lau Tzu isn’t just magically or delusionally conjuring up a sweet flavor without the help of any magic berries any more than we conjure up blissed-out happiness out of thin air. Lau Tzu is tasting the exact same thing as the other two. He’s just smiling because that sour and bitter vinegar tastes just exactly how vinegar is supposed to taste. He’s smiling because the vinegar is being true to its authentic nature. He’s smiling because life is what it is.

Lincoln’s making up your mind to be happy is similar. Making up your mind to be happy isn’t making happy out of thin air. Making up your mind to be happy is making friends with life and the people and the things in your life…even the parts are like a big old barrel of sour, bitter vinegar. Smile because they are being exactly what it their authentic true nature to be. Then smile because you, just maybe, can be that way too.

Sage Sips blog is Tarot in the time it takes to sip your coffee. Tune in tomorrow for a new Monday thing. See you at the next sip!

Today’s Tarot: Seven of Wands (11 July 2019)

Sometimes the best way forward is straight through. To borrow a phrase, just do it. Maybe a little melee is just what we need, especially if the confrontation is with oneself.

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