The TAO is the wisdom of the ancient Chinese sage Lao Tzu. True wisdom is absolute
truth that can withstand time; what was true in the past is also true today. To
fathom the TAO, you must begin with your own mind, which controls your thinking
process and hence creating your own thoughts of thinking.
The TAO begins with
having an empty mind, which is more than just “thinking out of the box”: it
is also reverse thinking
to create your own box of thinking. An empty mindset originated from Lao
Tzu:
“An
empty mind with no craving and no expectation helps us let go.
Being
in the world and not of the world, we attain heavenly grace.
With
heavenly grace, we become pure and selfless.
And
everything settles into its own perfect place.”
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 3)
Without an empty mind,
an individual may think that he or she is already knowledgeable, and therefore
lacks the desire to seek more knowledge by asking more questions, and thus
ending up being less knowledgeable.
Reverse thinking is
turning your mind around: instead of
accepting or following what your mind says, you think in the opposite direction by asking
self-probing questions of how and why your mind has come to give you that
thought of thinking in the first place.
Simplicity is the
first step toward detachment, which holds the key to unlocking the door to an
empty mind with reverse thinking. Live a simple lifestyle, deleting all the
trimmings of life and living that may block and obstruct your thinking mind.
Letting go of everything that you may erroneously believe are important to you
in your life is reverse thinking.
“Simplicity
is clarity.
It
is a blessing to learn from those
with
humble simplicity.
Those
with an empty mind
will
learn how to find the Way.
The
Way reveals the secrets of the universe:
the
mysteries of the realm of creation;
the
manifestations of all things created.
The
essence of the Way is to show us
how
to live in fullness and return to our origin.”
(Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, chapter 65)
Copyright© by Stephen Lau
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