Spiritual Forums - body lacks hope

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i was thinking of this passage out of the Tao Te Ching ch 52 (which by the way this is my translation so there are no copyrights):

Cork its bottle
Obstruct its door
Eventually the body lacks straining.

Open its bottle
Complete its effort
Eventually the body lacks hope.

I'm coming to very much agree...

I wasn't familiar with this so I looked it up. There are several versions of what Lao Tzu purportedly said so I have chosen an excerpt one less harsh (one had the words 'shut your mouth!')

I think I am able to quote directly the relevant section since it is very short and forms just 2 sentences....(if not, please delete the post as it will make no sense to shorten it).

'Block up your apertures; close your door,
And to the end of your life you
will never be exhausted.
But if you open your apertures
and deal consciously with things,
to the end of your life you will never have relief.'

I have to say that I strongly disagree since this feels like suppression of emotions/expression and, as such, is unhealthy. Also pent up feelings ARE exhausting i.e. far from being free of it.

Dealing with our issues enables healing and so affords relief.

I am aware that this seems not to relate to the OP, although it is this is Tao Te Ching ch 52. Puzzling!!

The second translation, esp, meant to me - go inside, senses closed, meditate.
'Put the cork in' - thus, receive inner wisdom.
If you do not - well, you are missing a lot...using mind instead of centered guidance or intuition that
you would receive if you were still, within.

yeah the second translation is just as good as mine... not as cryptic either lol...

personally, i think there are meditative reasons why not going along with the 'collective mind' face value assessment might be smart here... for me it goes beyond the simplicity of simply 'looking within' although that is certainly a part of it :smile:

I also think that I have trouble sometimes, talking can sometimes seem like pouring my life essence out on the floor. I could sense, that at the extreme I would pour my entire self out and then I'd also lose all hope and die. And I also have this ongoing feeling, that life would be much easier if I wouldn't be so vocal. But at this point I'm neither willing to take the advice that comes in a couple of places and just shut up entirely. I feel like there is more to life than just doing the most 'efficient' thing possible I guess.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ameliorate

'Block up your apertures; close your door, And to the end of your life you will never be exhausted.
But if you open your apertures and deal consciously with things, to the end of your life you will never have relief.'

I have three different translations of this chapter, all rather different.

But as Miss H says, the idea of blocking up the apertures does suggest going within in meditation.

Indian texts describe the body as the city with nine gates. These are the nine openings in the physical body. Yoga is the process of closing these nine gates and discovering the tenth gate in the head, the doorway to liberation.

Closing these gates is not suppression. It is simply preventing the outward dissipation of energies. If these energies are continually flowing outwards to the world of forms then this is a never-ending process and we always have to recharge our energies.

When we close our apertures we are no longer led in all directions by the senses.

There is no-one to become so we are content to be whatever we are.

There is nothing to do, so we do whatever presents itself to be done.

There is nowhere to go because we are present wherever we are.

Thus we are still. Resting in the Tao we are complete.

Peace

I would agree with that

Namaste

My (intuitive) interpretation:

If you focus on your inner-senses, and on your inner-growth, then your life will have achieved its purpose.
If you focus on your physical-senses, and on the values of the physical-world, then your life won't have achieved anything.

I'm sorta at the point, where I don't want to choose either inner or outer as being somehow better. Although if I had to make a CHOICE I would have to choose inner like you do.

But I guess I'm personally trying to learn to stand on the edge between worlds... but that is just me lol... and who knows if that is even possible?

Quote:

Originally Posted by FallingLeaves

I'm sorta at the point, where I don't want to choose either inner or outer as being somehow betterBut I guess I'm personally trying to learn to stand on the edge between worlds and who knows if that is even possible?

Maybe your just wanting to forge the middle way..

hm... so I'm a closet buddhist? (twinkle)

[edit]
well they have a no-suffering-allowed clause in their contract so I didn't sign.