Choices are Fundamental to the Tao

Reflections ~ I saw it this way...by Janice Brown

Choices are fundamental to the Tao. Once we understand this, we can begin to craft a powerful life of choice. You are under the influence of who you are, and until you understand this, you may feel quite at odds with experiences that are fundamental to your nature. You are choosing them, whether you are aware of it or not.

This crafting experience feels like happenstance, circumstance, or jolly good will, but at some point you will come to understand it is all a reflection of the yearning of the soul. And the soul knows joy but still wanders some weary paths and some downright disrespectful terrain from time to time.

Why is that? The soul knows the expression of self through the experience of living, and living is what we do best, whether it’s bright and shiny or screaming off the rails.

The work of the Heart and Mind is to see another way; that’s it. And to see another way, you need to know where your choice points are. Is it an executive decision? A ritualistic rut? A habit? A hardline? A softening? An opening? A curiosity?

You choose it every day. Wouldn’t you like to understand why?

Let’s look at these ideas more distinctly. Where are you going when you first get out of bed? To the bathroom? The toothbrush? The floor below? The floor above? Out the door? Around the block? How much of this is autopilot? And how much of it are you consciously choosing to do?

You’ve got to shake it up to know the difference. Watch what you’re doing for a day or two longer, and then start asking yourself, ‘Why?’

Why do I zig when I could zag? Why do I bend when I could stretch? And why do I think I fall short when I do anything differently?

Well, it’s a certain phenomenon known as the Tao, which from the perspective of SolePath, can be understood as who you are and how you behave. Now that’s a complex description for an everyday occurrence, and that’s why we spend our time breaking it down and sorting it out into useful constructs so you can understand the formation of your life more clearly than you ever have before.

Once in a while, you’re going to have a breakthrough that feels like all the light is shining on your face, through your face, and out of your very Heart. That’s a golden moment, and it’s achieved through a high sense of worth and a lack of doubt. That’s freedom, and that’s the freedom of choice inspired by your own true knowing.

Now, where do you get clarity like that? You do a lot of soul-searching, a little recon, and a lot of recognizing self-deception. Self-deception becomes a whole new field of work for many who have only known their experience through this lens of perception.

And once you know this and understand it, it becomes a new way of understanding the self through experience.

You are hopeful because you have a reason to be.

You are despondent because you don’t understand your framework.

And so, once in a while, give yourself a break and let the good times roll. Put down the heavy weight you have been bearing and let yourself feel a little spring in your step. You can launch yourself into a new career, a new moment, or a new lifetime; the choice is yours.

You always have choice, but the recognition of why you choose the way you do is life-altering. Life fulfilling, and yes, life relieving. Can you imagine what it takes to be in total awareness of your life? Neither can I! Honestly, I don’t think I’d want to, but also, I sure know that I want to know why I think the way I do, react the way I do, and behave the way I do.

And this I consider to be a momentous occasion by any method of consideration. I want to know why it hurts so bad when I’m the only one who knows I think I have fallen. Why it takes a breach of faith to recognize my conviction? Why I have to know 'why?' instead of letting sleeping dogs lie? What drives me, what fulfills me, and what makes me tick?

I know these things about myself; I know them, and still, I get the rug ripped out from under me from time to time. I still want more. I still want to be fulfilled, and breathless, and exhilarated beyond my imagination. I want to be held high in thought, and care, and love. I want to know my limits, and I want to break barriers. Barriers in my own Mind. Barriers in my own Heart. And barriers in experience.

How am I going to do that if I don’t allow myself the opportunity to be a little bit radical from time to time? And I don't mean disrespectful or disturbing; I mean walking through the world with a new sense of purpose and conviction. I mean, watch my Ps and Qs no more, and that’s not such a big deal if you are by nature a kind and thoughtful person.

We are blistering inside, searching for a soothing balm, and that balm is your own soul’s love and appreciation.

'What do you want from me?' is a common plea. Have you ever asked yourself that? Anyone that? It’s a helpless feeling, and that’s because you’re not giving yourself proper consideration. You deserve to be held in high regard; all people do. And that starts with you. If you don’t hold yourself there, how can anyone else?

Start now. Start today. Be the one who knows you best. Loves you best. Finds you so remarkable that you’d never disparage yourself again.

It’s a tall task and an old habit, and all it takes is realizing this. This is the way you have positioned yourself for a reason you don’t understand. It’s time to understand.

So here we go; this is me and my life. Let me tell you a little bit about my framework. It’s a doozie!

I am a Spiritual Warrior.

So what does that mean?

It means I am a person of conviction who never falters when it comes down to the crunch. I will not bend. I will not fold. I will not desert my post. I will stand there until the cows come home if that’s what it takes, but I’ll tell you this too: when the cows come home, I’ll have a new task, and that will be my condition moving forward in the next experience.

What does that feel like to me? It’s unrelenting; it’s all I can see, and there’s no way to move my vision from that sight. I will allow all experiences to occur and unfold around me, but I will not budge from my task. It is my cause, and that means it is unshakable.

Now, were I to see through the eyes of a new perspective, I’d begin to see the shades of grey, a new experience, and a way to lighten up just a little bit. But that’s why a Warrior is Spiritual, because in the Tao, Spiritual means Mountain and it holds all those qualities in terms of behaviour, in terms of elegance, in terms of being forthright.

There is no way you are walking around a mountain without putting in a considerable amount of effort. You may traverse it, stand on top of it, dig holes in its side, and yet it still stands. Mountain is an epiphany of insight. It holds you fast and far and lifts you where you can not see without the benefit of Mountain. Then take a stroll down the side of a mountain and you’ll be walking fast, or precariously, or clinging to your perch. Where you stand depends a lot on the conviction in your own Heart and Mind. And where I stand remains the same. Right here. Right now.

And so, that’s a little bit about what it’s like to be ‘Mountain’ from a Warrior's perspective. And do you know what? I am in a family of Warriors, can you imagine what that is like? Try flying over the Rockies and see how those mountains stand arm in arm, side by side, and you’ll know how hard it is to budge that conviction. Not gonna happen!

I am an Intellectual Lateral Thinker

Now, I am also an Intellectual Lateral Thinker and 'Thinkers' are in juxtaposition to Mountain energy. They come at you from every direction. It’s like dodging hornets when a Lateral Thinker's mind gets going; you are swarmed by new ideas, new thoughts, and new understandings. And that’s a lot for a mind to take on, and so that is why Intellectuals are considered the Great Minds, they are vast, fast and move like the Wind.

The Wind is a force that few people understand. It’s a breath of wind gently caressing your skin; it’s a powerhouse that can rip your face off. What makes the difference between the two? THAT…that is the question that needs answering.

Watch a beautiful day turn to ruin with the breath of wind that suddenly storms. Did it suddenly storm? Or, was it fed through an imperceivable perspective? What once seemed like a clear and certain path can suddenly be obliterated by Wind. Wind in its fury, lifts all matter and reassigns it to a new location. It creates a path of destruction that looks a lot like disorder but is really a predisposition that wasn’t recognized until it was too late.

What happens with Wind matters a great deal because once Wind gets going, there’s no knowing where it will go or where it will stop. What matters most to Wind is amplification, and amplification is created from an internal disposition. It’s where the wild things are—the sweet and the fragrant, and the dark and the rusty. It creaks and groans, and then suddenly lifts without notice. It is what some would term unexpected and others would call inevitable.

'Why do you want to live this way when you could live that way?' The questions are endless. The most powerful among them, ‘Who am I?  What am I doing here?’

Where are you ever going to find an answer like that without doing some deep and personal inquiry?

You are going to look long and hard, and there are going to be things that don’t line up, and you’re going to wonder, 'Why? How can I be a good and solid person when I think that guy is a real asshole and wouldn’t give him the time of day? Doesn’t that fly in the face of having a deep and abiding respect for humanity? For the good of others? For being a good person? A good human?'

Well, welcome to your DarkPath. We all have one, and it’s the one-sided world view we take when we have limited perspective. Limited patience. Limited recognition of the way we have narrowed our field of view to a pinpoint of awareness instead of a wide and open expanse.

For me, my limited perspective is also an Intellectual perspective but from the narrow field of view, which is called Dark Intellectual Controller.

Now a Dark Controller is going to have you do some serious self-examination, whether you want to or not. The modus operandi of a Dark Controller is blame. And at its worst, you’ll feel like you have failed in some inconceivable way; at its best, you’ll feel unsettled in a way that makes your skin crawl with uncertainty. You can’t put a finger on it; it’s wind after all, but it will run itself right over you without a thought or care in the world.

Wow! Yikes. And guess what? I also come from a family of Dark Controllers. Talk about a focused lesson plan.

You have a physical blueprint that we call DNA, and you also have a metaphysical blueprint that we call SolePath. So when we are talking about behaviour and experience, we mean it is deeply rooted in your construct; in a way you can’t divert from but can choose towards or away from in awareness.

Now what I mean by this is that some days are going to be a shitshow, and no matter what you do, you’re going to feel like the world is on top of you. This is when your DarkPath is going to slide into play most easily, not because you’re an a-hole but because, in that moment, you can’t see it any other way. Period.

The complicating factor is the way you are feeling in the moment; this triggers the intensity of your response. Now, are you going to let it slide because you recognize your limited response in the moment, or are you going to rip the door off the hinges? Could go either way. It doesn’t necessarily make your is response wrong or inappropriate; it simply means your trip wire got triggered. And that’s what trip wires do: elicit an instant response.

Here’s the thing to know: for as long as you are experiencing that feeling, you’re playing with that trip wire like a hoe-downer playing a banjo at a honkey-tonk!

Every strum and plink of that wire amplifying, distorting, and aggravating the initiating response.

Cripes! It’s enough to make your head spin right off your shoulders some days.

But here’s the thing: when you see it, when you can watch it happen from the inside out, you suddenly realize you are the master of your own fate, the captain of your ship, and as you get skilled at this, the game changes. And it changes remarkably in your favour, whether it turns in your direction or not.

You can ride it out or take it to the mat, but you can’t deny your own responsibility and contribution to the way your life has played out anymore. Now that can be an opportunity for some heavy heartache, or you can watch yourself say, 'Now that I know better, I can do better more often'. Maybe not every time, because seriously, shit happens in this world that is unbearable, but you will know where your power is, how to heal when you are hurt, and how to move forward without hesitation.

The more often you do this, the more refined your skill set. So once in a while, just remember to stop chomping at the bit and remember to look over your shoulder at all the good you have done in the world, because you have.

You’ve made a difference in the simplest and most extraordinary ways. So take the time to celebrate you and champion your own successes once in a while.

It’s a new world. It’s a new game. It’s a new life.

And that’s a pretty fine thing.

I saw it this way.

~ A Girl

I’ve been working with the Tao as long as I’ve lived; and so have you. Here’s what that means to me, I’m a problem solver and I use the Tao as a framework for my discussion. In my writing and my work, I share with you how I use it, and you can decide if that’s helpful for you or not.

Janice writes from the Heart in the moment. She writes specifically from her point of view. You may not have seen it this way before, but that's the whole point—to turn it around and look at it another way.

You can have your own SolePath measured here.

---

A footnote and a conversation for another day...

Now, when Mountain moves it’s unsettling; could be a landslide, could be an earthquake, could be a glacier calving, and that’s Water that has turned to Mountain for a period of time, that has suddenly or over a period of time gotten restless with its inability to move in simple ways.

Wind moves, but it doesn’t move mountains; it keeps Mountain refreshed, revived, and renewed. Earth moves Mountain, and the world takes notice.

Reminder: Mountain and Wind are counterparts.

You might also want to read A Tribute to Mountain and A Tribute to Wind.

---

Trajectories of the Tao

by Rev. Janice Brown DTCM, sp.M (master), CS.p

Janice is both a doctor of Chinese medicine and a Reverend with a metaphysical practice that specializes in the Tao. This includes exploring the 'Me', the independent or the individual. The individual benefit of understanding the wisdom of the Tao and the application of these understandings in your own life experience. This also includes the 'We', the collective whole. The collective benefit is to begin to see that we have an interdependence that is so intrinsic to the framework of living that we can not go a single day without the collective experience being enfolded into our personal life experience.

Recommended Reading:

• Tributes to the Tao by Janice

• Daily Pulse, rhythm of the Tao by Dr. Debra Ford Msc.D

• Book I: The SolePath Book of Wisdom, The Essential SolePath Academic Reference by Dr. Debra Ford Msc.D