Photo by Chandler Cruttenden on Unsplash
From Verse 15 of the Tao Te Ching.
“Turbid as muddied water. Who can be still until their mud settles and the water is cleared by itself? Can you remain tranquil until right action occurs by itself?”
Meditation provides an opportunity to watch our “turbid… muddied water” without judgment. To observe calmly until it settles on its own. Then we can feel our higher intelligence provide the “right action”. .
To “be still” does not only refer to the body, but also the mind. To “remain tranquil” means to keep calm in spirit. To patiently observe the muddied feelings of our body and mind, until they settle of their own accord.
The ego’s fear causes this muddy water, until our stillness calms it. Our stillness and awareness helps the ego realize it is seen and that we acknowledge the info it provides. Acknowledging the ego’s reactions as real, causes it to feel safe, and the bodymind begins to settle down. Only then, can we begin to truly think and feel.
When fear leaves, we can discern our true feelings. True feelings reveal the right thought, which leads to the right action. We are no longer confused by our ego’s fear and begin to understand which feelings are from a higher place of understanding and which are motivated by fear. The calm spirit accepts, while the scared spirit fights fate by questioning reality. There can be no peace found through battling fate/the universe/nature/God. Your spirit knows you are destined to lose.
As long as our waters are muddied by fear, we cannot feel clearly, we cannot think clearly, and we cannot act with confidence. Our fear based reactions are often confused with our intuition, yet they are separate. If your spirit is clouded by fear, your intuition is clouded by fear as well. Until you stop fighting the fear, until you stop disturbing the mud, you will never have clarity. You must witness the mud, observing it calmly. You must know the mud and the water are separate, even when they appear to be one in the same.
As long as you meddle with the mud, impatient in your desire to rid yourself of it, you will only continue to stir it up, prolonging the process of receiving clear insight. You must see yourself clearly, before you can clearly see anything else. To rush only moves you further from clarity. Your refusal to accept your mud, to accept your fear, only increases your confusion. Every effort you make only wastes your life, until you learn to stop judging yourself and to start observing yourself. Then, with patience, with care, with acceptance, you watch the mud until it settles and come to a newfound understanding of who you are, and who you are not.