Easy To Understand, Impossible To Do (Taoism with Lao Tzu & Professor Cheng Man Ching)

ENLIGHTENMENT PROMPT #28

"My words are easy to understand and easy to perform,

Yet no man under heaven knows them or practices them."

Tao Teh Ching, Chapter 70

Winter Sunrise Over The Côte d’Azur by Morgan Buchanan.

Here is the sunrise over the Côte d’Azur, taken last week. Nature is in constant change and yet that change follows laws of perfect consistency. The sun rises and sets each day, the seasons change, tiny seeds emerge as small shoots from the earth and grow into mighty trees. All things are done slowly, in their own time and yet everything is accomplished. When it comes to human beings Lao Tzu notices that we are out of alignment with nature. His teaching of the Tao is about nothing more than aligning ourselves with the environment we exist within, but because our consciousness is split (who is it that we talk to when we think?) we are something of a tragi-comedy when it comes to any kind of consistent, harmonious effort.

The Taoist Sage Lao Tzu riding his ox as he leaves the world behind.

How can we solve the problem of human disconnection? Healing ourselves within the context of our environment starts by looking within, reconnecting with the part of ourselves that is deeply connected to nature and its cycles.

There we go, just do that every day. Problem solved.

Now we get to Lao Tzu's point. It's easy to understand what to do, but why does no one do it?

Why does sitting with ourselves, looking within, reconnecting, seem unnatural? Something that requires effort? Here are some practical ideas: