Help Understanding

Hi and thank you to anyone reading this..

Can I ask you to please be careful when you reply as I am sure when you read my question you will understand I am struggling greatly at the moment understanding concepts and I really don't want to add anymore confusion to something that is already very painful to me. Thank you.

Firstly I am not a Taoist and I am not seeking to be. I have nothing against anyone perusing these teachings but for me it just becomes very confusing and I can be prone to misinterpretation that it is best off that I avoid further confusion in my life. However at times I see certain quotes etc usually I can see through them and they don't bother me but at other times things can really trouble me, now is one of those times. I have encountered a quote by Lao Tzu which I think I have interpreted really badly and I just wanted to ask if anyone out there is kind enough to put my mind at rest on this.. The quote is as follows

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

Like I said I can find stark and 'ambiguous' concepts etc very difficult to get around. When I read this I felt that I was no longer allowed to try, at anything. Trying was wrong, so if I was ill I would not be allowed to try to get better. Or if I wanted to get a promotion at work I would not be allowed to try to do this or if I was depressed I wouldn't be allowed to try and get any help or in any way would I be allowed to try to improve my life. This has made me so miserable that I feel like not getting up some mornings because I'm not supposed to try to get up or make my day a positive one.

But all around me I see people trying and succeeding, lot's of people studying hard at school or starting their own businesses I even see Taoists and others trying to get PhD's and trying to teach. I don't get it how are they allowed to try when trying is supposed to be bad? I find so much about Eastern religion confusing and I end up feeling really immobilized when I start reading about it; I end up feeling that anything that I want in my life just can't happen and isn't allowed that ambition is bad and that I should just be nothing. Then you see people all around including Taoists doing things they want, following their passions and I just don't understand why I am not allowed. As you can see this stuff has me very confused and feeling very hopeless.

I mean if I wanted to become a runner, would I be allowed? Am I allowed to change my diet and improve my strength? Is my ambition to get better not permitted? Am I not allowed to try and improve my fitness and to try to do something that could be beneficial in my life??

Please understand I am not attacking Taoism here, I just am feeling like it's not even worth getting up in the morning because I am not longer allowed to try in my life at anything.... I hope you understand where I am coming from and can offer some light and show my that I am allowed to try that trying is not bad, if nobody tried to cure illness nobody would get better, how can that be a bad thing?

I think part of the problem I had is that I take things far too literally and feel like I have to stick to things ultra rigidly. So thinking that I am not allowed to TRY anything is wrong. I equate it to not be allowed to DO anything, but to do anything you must try and do.

Warmest Regards

The reasoning mind(intellect) CANNOT understand that which is rooted in ABSOLUTE TRUTH. If you wish to understand you must let go of thinking you can understand. You ask for the Divine to show you ..... and then learn to listen in meditation ..... your answers may first come in dreams.

"The Mystic Path To Cosmic Power" by Vernon Howard
"Self-Unfoldment By Disciplines Of Realization" by Manly P Hall
"The Power of Now" by Eckhart Tolle
"The Secret Of Letting Go" by Guy Finley
Those works will help you better understand by working through the blocks in the reasoning mind. You will have to DO the work ..... to get there.

[ciel_perdu]

I think the quote is referring to not stressing out. When we stress out we make mistakes, and generally do a worse job all around. I think the more we can let go of the stress, and just rest in God, then he will give us the necessary strength to do what we need to do. Basically when we let go of 'trying' so hard, we actually find the spiritual strength to do what we need to do, and more so.

small stone, I suggest you keep trying, but don't stress out. Experience is a good teacher and one that we need to couple with our rational mind.

I don't like this quote. A few suggestions here... intstead of letting go and stop trying, keep trying but let go of the outcome. I sometimes say, I do the best I can and leave the rest to the Universe. I think it is when we try to control the outcome/future the trouble starts. Or when we try do do more than we can, which is impossible...

[Xan]

By letting it go it all gets done.
The world is won by those who let it go.
But when you try and try.
The world is beyond the winning.

The struggle comes in 'trying' to understand this conceptually, when it is actually pointing to something we can learn and choose to do in our minds.

There came a point when I recognized what letting go feels like, and I liked it so much that I developed the habit in my daily life.

This is all it's about.


Xan

To frame in a non spiritual way. A sportsman chokes when the learning part of the brain over rides the knowledge part different motor control points etc
Letting go is just doing it not multi tasking with context to the meaning of life is this the real ? right ? ordained ? Just being your self theres peace and achievement if you attain your self you've won the world

I would guess that Lao Tzu was talking about letting go of worldly competitions to favor gaining a sense of oneness with basic nature and natural instincts. You appear to do the opposite and see his simple viewpoint as ambiguous because you appear to have the ideas of competitive human success. It seems to me that he is saying that to let go of that is freedom from stress. To become one with nature and the natural mind, none-the-less.

Greetings..

Still your mind.. sit quietly and observe Life happening.. Life continues, and it has continued for millions of years.. we come and we go, and.. doing nothing, life continues, so.. judge your importance by how well you engage reality, how much you are able to contribute to harmony and healing, but don't take yourself too seriously.. you can sit in silence in a cave for your whole Life, and the rest of existence gets by just fine..

Lao Tzu: Chapter Two, Tao Te Ching
The sage accomplishes by not undertaking
Does not claim what he achieves,
Not claiming, he suffers no loss..

Don't force it, Life will reveal the 'way'...

Be well..

[hybrid]

smallstone,

By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond the winning.

what is it that is being let go?
bruce lee demonstrated this principle very well by applying it to martial arts.

what is to let go is the conditioning, a particular structure in a form of traditional way of thinking, dogmas and doctrines, routinary subconscious actions. ( a quick browse on his philosophy maybe helpful)

its a pure intuition - out of the box approach to everything. if you notice its fashionable to use the word TAO in everything . .. like the TAO of physics, the TAO of Yoga, the TAO of winnie the poooh, etc etc.

the best analogy is when you want to calm the water, interfering with it by putting your hands in the water to stop the ripples will only make it worst. so the best approach is just to let it alone.

Greetings..

Originally Posted by hybrid

smallstone,


what is it that is being let go?
bruce lee demonstrated this principle very well by applying it to martial arts.

what is to let go is the conditioning, a particular structure in a form of traditional way of thinking, dogmas and doctrines, routinary subconscious actions. ( a quick browse on his philosophy maybe helpful)

its a pure intuition - out of the box approach to everything. if you notice its fashionable to use the word TAO in everything . .. like the TAO of physics, the TAO of Yoga, the TAO of winnie the poooh, etc etc.

the best analogy is when you want to calm the water, interfering with it by putting your hands in the water to stop the ripples will only make it worst. so the best approach is just to let it alone.

Nice! Thanks, hybrid.. has a very authentic feel to it..

Be well..