Twin Valley Spirit
Daily uploads centered on Taoist philosophy.
82 Attunment
"Traversing sun leads to a new season,
Vernal breath attunes the leaves."
Relentless practice unveils the deeper structures of existence. True harmony lies not in escaping fate, but in finding resonance within it.
Brief commentary/review on the book 365 TAO Daily Meditations by Deng Ming Dao.
81 Sailing
"Infinite expanse,sleek ocean teeming with life,
Turbulent, virile, ever-moving spread,
Seamlessly laid to the brilliant sky,
I float on you in my fashioned womb,
Sustained against your green-black depths.
Those on land never understand maritime life.
Those of the sea are intimate with your moods;
They navigate but are ultimately helpless.
Destinations become useless, drifting the sole reality;
A sailor's fears dissolve into acceptance."
Willingness, acceptance, letting go, serenity, sailing on!
Brief commentary/review on the book 365 TAO Daily Meditations by Deng Ming Dao.
80 Opposites
"Before emptying, there must be fullness.
Before shrinking, there must be expanding.
Before falling, there must be ascent.
To destroy something, lead it to its extreme.
To preserve something, keep to the middle."
Brief commentary/review on the book 365 TAO Daily Meditations by Deng Ming Dao.
One Hundred!
Wow-- 100 days in a row making these videos! This has been the most intensive journaling experience I've ever been part of. I have grown and changed so much in these 100 days.
It involves so much more than what you see; I wind up having to read the day's page again and again all day long, processing it through decades of higher education of fine art and psychology, 30 years of 12 step recovery, putting the effort toward location scouting, filming, audio, editing, writing, processing, sometimes barely being able to upload in time. Several times I've konked out during a 3am upload, I'm usually asleep around 9pm!
What I'm saying about this process is that it imparts deep learning. Mnemonic strategies are good, repetition has benefits, the strategy of rereading 2 hours later helps cement an idea. To succeed in university studies you learn all these great practices but man this has been some next level stuff! One of the more subtly powerful aspects is that without knowing it I've donned the mantle of Teacher in this endeavor (for anti authoritarians this is difficult) and that affords another unanticipated level of my own education. We really do learn the most from teaching. Part of the subtlety is the social side where normally I would spout my opposition to a particular phrasing or concept but because of this role I can't be so dismissive, I have to sit with the teaching and sit and sit mulling it over until resolution. Powerful stuff!
In a kismetic way these hundred days have also been a very transformative time in my personal life. I'm engaged in a year long remodel and et cetera. Well I suppose too this is a celebration of a new partnership between Trees and I. By the way I just love that people call me Twin and their name is Trees, it's just so perfect "Here comes Trees & Twin!" Twin Trees. The profound background of this relationship is too vast for this current space just know that the entwining of this education and that education bolster and buttress each other making this 100 day journey epically epic!
To celebrate this occasion I would like to do two things; I would like everyone to really know the words for number 78 titled Fear so I will reproduce them here, secondly I would like to go for a fun ride on a motorcycle to a nearby hot spring and take some time to soak it all in. Congratulations to everyone for being part of this social/personal experiment, all parts make up the whole and I appreciate that. I love that I've fallen in love with new voices through this process, you guys send messages a variety of ways and I absolutely love it! I have to say though it is funny in a peculiar way how many people watch or listen but avoid leaving any trace they were here, I have to wonder how deeply the fear tentacles go. Anyway this isn't about that and that has nothing to do with this. Ah the ADHD manifests. Interesting finding out I have that. What was I doing?
Trust the gods within,
Accept given boons,
Illusion is reality's border:
Pierce fear to go beyond.
"In your meditations you will meet gods. These gods are nothing more than the holiest aspects of your own mind; they are not other beings. Your inner gods will grant gifts of knowledge and power. Accept what comes your way without doubt and without fear. You can trust your gods. They will never betray you, for you cannot betray yourself.
Such trust dissolves fear and regret. You will find a resolution to your inner conflicts. The gods will direct you forward to the very border of reality itself. On the other side is vast profundity, the ultimate nature of existence. But the border can be crossed only if you have resolved all fear and regret.
All fear comes from our sense of self. When we stand at the border of reality, we are afraid that we will lose our identities by plunging in. We are afraid of being destroyed. But we came from Tao in the first place. We are Tao. To return to Tao is not to be negated, but to become one with the entire universe. True, we will no longer be who we are now, but we will be one with Tao. In that state, there is no need for fear."
Such trust dissolves fear and regret. You will find a resolution to your inner conflicts. The gods will direct you forward to the very border of reality itself. On the other side is vast profundity, the ultimate nature of existence. But the border can be crossed only if you have resolved all fear and regret.
All fear comes from our sense of self. When we stand at the border of reality, we are afraid that we will lose our identities by plunging in. We are afraid of being destroyed. But we came from Tao in the first place. We are Tao. To return to Tao is not to be negated, but to become one with the entire universe. True, we will no longer be who we are now, but we will be one with Tao. In that state, there is no need for fear."
Brief commentary/review on the book 365 TAO Daily Meditations by Deng Ming Dao.
78 Fear
"Trust the gods within,
Accept given boons,
Illusion is reality's border:
Pierce fear to go beyond."
It's a truth that all fear and resentment require self-centeredness. Who wants to be selfish? One can operate from an internal locus of control and be selfless, where joy resides.
I can be dust or I can be this; everything remains either way. The endless beauty will go on. Somewhere in the universe, delightful, magical things are always unfolding, independent of these conglomerate "me."
Brief commentary/review on the book 365 TAO Daily Meditations by Deng Ming Dao.
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