The Way of Life Sunday, April 19, 2015 Rev. Bruce Southworth, Senior Minister The Community Church of New York Unitarian Universalist Introduction to Responsive Reading 604 by Lao Tzu Over the years, I revisit Lao Tzu s The Way of Life as a spiritual guidebook. Sometimes, I have given it as a gift to our graduating high school students. As I thumbed through different editions and translations, perhaps a dozen or so at bookstores, I found again the same one I have had, translated by Witter Bynner, though with a new golden cover. Serendipitously, on the back, were words from one of our ministers here, John Haynes Holmes (who served us from 1907-1949). It describes this version as the perfect rendering of a classic work. Contemporary scholar Huston Smith in his classic The World s Religions originally titled The Religions of Man also praises Bynner s as the best translation. It is attributed to a sage by the name of Lao Tsu, who according to legend was an official in the imperial archives. Toward the end of his life, he decided to leave court life, disappointed that we humans were not acting upon human natural goodness he advocated. He also wanted to get away from all who flocked to him, seeking answers to their questions about life, including Confucius. As he headed to Tibet and arrived at the western most military gate of the Emperor s land, a guard asked him to write down his teachings before leaving. Tradition has it that he did so over three days, and then departed, never to be seen again. Scholars suggest that the actual writing project was a collective effort, perhaps 200 to 300 years after his death. And I would add that the name Lao Tzu translates affectionately as the Old Boy, the Old Fellow, or The Grand Old Master. Readings (1) Huston Smith, The Religions of Man, p. 287 The Yin Yang symbol sums up all life s basic oppositions: good-evil, activepassive, positive-negative, light-dark, summer-winter, male-female, etc. But though its principles are in tension, they are not flatly opposed. 1
They complement and counterbalance each another. Each invades the other s hemisphere and establishes itself in the very center of its opposite s territory. In the end both are resolved in an all-embracing circle, symbol of the final unity of the Tao. Constantly turning and interchanging places, the opposites are but phases of a revolving wheel. Life does not move onward and upward towards a fixed pinnacle or pole. It turn and bends back upon itself until the self comes full circle and knows that at center all things are one. (2) The Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff uses A. A. Milne s Winnie the Pooh characters to explain Taoism, with humor, insight, and balance. It was on the NY Times best-seller list for 49 weeks and has been used at times as a college text. As a literary device, Hoff includes conversations between Pooh and him, along with quotations from the various Pooh books and his commentary. In the Foreword, Hoff reports discussing Great Masters of Wisdom with friends and challenging the conclusion that all of such masters were from the East. He reports the following example of Wisdom from the West, to demonstrate that there is more to wisdom than one half (the world). From A. A. Milne: When you wake up in the morning, Pooh," said Piglet at last, "what's the first thing you say to yourself?" "What's for breakfast?" said Pooh. "What do you say, Piglet?" "I say, I wonder what's going to happen exciting today?" said Piglet. Pooh nodded thoughtfully. "It's the same thing," he said. (ix) Then, near the end of the volume, Hoff observes, The masters of life know the Way, for they listen to the voice within them, the voice of wisdom and simplicity, the voice that reasons beyond Cleverness and knows beyond Knowledge. That voice is not just the power and property of a few, but has been given to everyone. Those who pay attention to it are too often treated as exceptions to a rule, rather than as an example of the rule in operation that can apply to anyone who makes use of it. (pp. 154-5) (3) The Way of Life - Lao Tzu (W. Bynner translation) How can one s life keep its course 2
If you will not let it flow? Those who flow as life flows know They need no other force: They feel no wear; they feel no tear, They need no mending, no repair. The Way of Life Rev. Bruce Southworth To begin, two things about the Way of Life: (1) Despite the mystery in which we live and move and have our being, I know everything important that I need to know. (2) Because of the mystery in which we live and move and have our being, I know almost nothing about the Way of Life. And so do you! You are a know-it-all, and you really know little. The Way of Life is like that both/and. It s the same thing. Tao Teh Ching and Appreciative Awareness This morning I revisit Taoism, the nearly 2600-year-old embrace of Life offered by Lao-Tsu. Historically it had a profound influence on China and its people and culture. I also turn again to the Yin Yang symbol and to the brief volume titled The Way of Life and its Power, the Tao-Teh Ching. Or it could be called: The Path of Life and its Virtue. Also, we are honoring Taoism as part of our path of Universal Religion. Rather than Cleverness and Knowledge, rather than dogma and ritual, rather than certainty and judging, this spiritual path is curious about harmony, balance, complementarity, caring, humility, virtue, and wholeness. At the outset, I echo those words from our Responsive Reading, Meditation 29: 3
Those who would take over the earth And shape it to their will, Never, I notice, succeed. At no time in the world will one who is sane Over-reach oneself, Over-spend oneself, Over-rate oneself. Upon first reading so long ago, I was hooked from the first meditation, which concludes, From wonder into wonder Existence opens. In my own western theological terms, the foundations of this quiet, resounding naturalism include this matter of appreciative awareness. As my late colleague Roy Philips put it: To grow in spirit is to grow in appreciative awareness in our capacity to receive the good there is in existence, and in our inclination to act and to interact in ways that stir up more of the hidden good embedded in any and all occasions. To stir up the hidden good embedded everywhere! Another taste, Meditation 67: Everyone says that my way of life is the way of a simpleton. Being largely the way of a simpleton is what makes it worthwhile. If it were not the way of a simpleton It would long ago have been worthless, These possessions of a simpleton being the three I choose And cherish: To care, To be fair, To be humble. When a [person] cares [you are] unafraid; When [you are] fair you leave enough for others; When [you are] humble [you] can grow; Whereas if, like...[those] of today, [you are] bold without caring, Self-indulgent without sharing, 4
Self-important without shame, [You are] dead. The invincible shield Of caring Is a weapon from the sky Against being dead. The invincible shield of caring. And from caring comes Courage: you are unafraid. The Goal is simple enough to the follow the way of the Tao, that s T-A-O, pronounced with a D - Dao. Yin Yang Returning to the Yin Yang symbol of Chinese Taoism: It represents the seeming dualities of life and death, light and darkness, female and male, and it affirms that they complement one another rather than destroy one another. Out of the tensions symbolized in the Yin Yang out of the tensions arises Life, and inherent in the symbol is witness to an ongoing Creative process, all of which anchors hope. The Tao refers to the nature of ultimate reality, mysterious ultimately, and transcendent, but also immanent the Creative Process in us and around us, and also a guide for how best to live... Again, naturalistic, not supernatural Life-affirming flowing, unfolding. We should seek harmony with the larger way of Life. Being Special Western theological habits parse Life and offer categories and questions, e.g., what are humans in our essence? Taoism says we are special. Benjamin Hoff in his The Tao of Pooh offers this imagined dialogue: (Pooh and I) were discussing the Ode to Joy, the choral finale to Beethoven s Ninth Symphony. It s one of my favorites, said Pooh. Same here, I said. 5
My favorite part, said Pooh, is where they go: Sing Ho! for the life of a bear! But. Sing Ho! for a bear! Sing Ho! for a Pooh! But they don t. Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear! My favorite part. He added. But they don t sing Sing Ho! for the life of a Bear! in the Ode to Joy I said. They don t? No, they don t. Why not? Well, because they hadn t thought of it, I guess. They what? Neither Ludwig Van Beethoven nor the man who wrote the words of the Ode to Joy put anything in it about Bears. Oh, I must have been thinking about Ludwig van Bearthoven. Pooh, there is no Ludwig van Bearthoven. You wrote that song yourself. I did? That s right. Oh, so that s where I heard it, he said. (116) Hoff goes on to describe Taoism as enjoying life and being Special [and is at the heart of Taoism] Everyone is Special, you know (though it sometimes takes time for us to understand that). (116) Creation is special, part of the Tao. Befriending Nature Taoism challenges a variety of western attitudes. In the west, we have spoken of the adventurers who succeed in their conquest of Mt. Everest. Taoism speaks of befriending nature befriending Mt. Everest. (Smith, 284) This thoroughgoing naturalism has an ecological bent: to identify with Nature, to blend in, an organic approach different from traditional western, mechanistic reductive materialism now under substantial challenge and revision with modern philosophy of science. 6
All of which is worth noting as we approach Earth Day and is in keeping with it. Inclusion and Caring Taoism also honors inclusion and caring, and I think of a story from my colleague Gary Smith, now Emeritus Minister of the First Parish in Concord, Massachusetts. He reports about the Way of Life, a moment of harmony from early in his ministry in Maine: I used to walk from my home to the church office in Bangor. When I was walking up my street one beautiful fall morning at a time when seventh and eighth graders were on their way to middle school, I passed first a young girl, short, well-cut...(black) hair, pierced ears, beautiful complexion, a pretty sweater, designer jeans, undoubtedly [the most fashionable] running shoes, walking with a self-assured and poised air about her, on her way to school. A short distance later, I passed another girl: outwardly less attractive [by our society s sometimes-cruel standards,] obviously [not very graceful], not particularly well dressed, walking along rather tentatively and [even] frightened. Nothing remarkable so far. And then it happened. At the moment I passed the second girl, the first girl turned and called back to the second, inviting her to join her. I will not forget the look on the second girl s face as a smile broke across it, and then she turned, half expecting that the first girl had addressed someone farther back, and she said, Who, me? And then she ran to catch up, and the two girls walked on together, and I went on to work. [He concludes,] I have too often seen that second girl, and other boys and girls and men and women like her walk on alone, so that I felt on that morning that time had stopped for a moment, and I had been given a glimpse of life as it should be. The Way of Life appreciative awareness of one another, even when different, especially when different. Our Weakness for Beauty A few years ago, an incomplete autobiographical novel (The First Man) by Nobel Laureate Albert Camus appeared, including some of the author s notes on the draft. 7
He speaks of the poverty of his childhood growing up in Algiers. He writes lovingly of his family and the search for knowledge about his father who died in World War I. In describing his grandmother s love for his uncle, a man born deaf, a man of charm and difficult spirit, he speaks of his grandmother s weakness a weakness that he says at first seemed unusual but was after all very common, and helps make the world bearable it is our weakness for beauty. Camus does not elaborate. He does not add to it, but continues with descriptions of everyday life. That affirmation, a gift of clarity, contains a world of faith and displays a deep, abiding kinship with our own liberal religious convictions and a Taoist-like affirmation. Our weakness, he says, that is after all very common and makes the world bearable is our weakness for beauty. It is a theological insight. It is a spiritual claim. It is a word of healing, of redemption and of blessing. Perhaps some of us first encountered, or perhaps only know of, this writer Camus, if at all, from a nature poster with his words. In order to keep justice from shriveling up I discovered once more in Tipassa [that s a part of Algeria on the Mediterranean Coast known for its stark beauty] that one must keep intact within oneself a freshness, a cool wellspring of joy, loving the day that escapes injustice, and return to the struggles having won that light. Here I recaptured the former beauty, a young sky, and I measured my good fortune as I realized that in the worst years of our madness the memory of this sky had never left me. It was this in the end that saved me from despair In the midst of winter, I discovered within me an invincible summer. Beauty sustains, heals, holds and challenges. Naturalism at its most thoroughgoing offers little room for tragedy. Absolutely, we know sadness pain loss, but as part of Life s way, not as punishment. Part of the Way of Life. Snatching the Eternal Out of the Desperately Fleeting 8
It never really is too late to try your hand at that great magic trick of existence a to snatch the eternal out of the desperately fleeting. (Tennessee Williams) The way of Life: embracing beauty. Our faith, like Taoism, makes a bold theological, ontological, existential claim, which is to say that we say, at the heart of reality there is a goodness that keeps on revealing itself. There is a continuing, ongoing revelation, not just one, singular, dogmatic event of revelation that excludes all who do not believe. We say that amidst the heartache of the world, the fleetingness of time, we say the sacred keeps on appearing. As one colleague, Barbara. Pescan, reports, I don t know how much time I have left on this sweet, green earth. Sometimes I get very far away indeed from the real moment/present moment and [I] can make my life difficult with regret and dread. But there is sometimes a certain cast of light in the sky that takes me unaware; someone s laughter; I witness a kindness, or overhear a healing word; a painting, a song unexpected swells of ordinary daily life on which I am lifted above my day s laments and forgetfulness, aware of where I am and that I am in this marvelous, tender, dangerous, sad, beautiful world. Such courageous faith is one of the attractions and provocations I find in novelist Marilynne Robinson. I spoke about this on Easter in her novel Lila, and similarly in Gilead, she offers this sense of transcendent grace of creation. Pastor Ames ponders friendship, a close friend, the secrets we carry, and the sense, as he says, there are inviolable, untraversable, and utterly vast spaces between us between all of us on this planet. (197) Yet, Marilynne Robinson continues, in case we are sleepy, or distracted. Pastor Ames affirms, Existence is the essential thing and the holy thing. (189) Illusions We do have other options, and choices over against the religions that dwell on human depravity and the mistakes we make. Benjamin Hoff portrays elements of 9
Taoism as seen through Winnie the Pooh characters, such as Eeyore, Tigger, Pooh, Owl, and Rabbit, and especially Piglet, in his The Te of Piglet. Most of our unhappiness, according to Taoism, is that we are too often guided by illusions illusions, for example, that we are Separate from the Natural World. Or the illusion that some of us are better than others. Sometimes we have unpleasant feelings or fear because of the illusion of What Might Be, an illusion because it has not yet happened. Or there is sadness from o What Might Have Been, or o What if, or o If Only I Had. (Owl and Rabbit). Big egos (Tigger) distracted egos (Eeyore, the worrier and complainer) can throw us off balance, keep us from finding balance, harmony flow connection with all of Life keep us from Life s meaning, which is to find virtue in action. Piglet, in the Winnie the Pooh stories, expresses virtue in action and the value of small things, for Piglet is frequently identified as a Very Small Animal. The significance of Piglet is that only Piglet, among all the Pooh characters, undergoes transformation, growth, and change. And Taoism is a way of transformation, as well as harmony. In our society, we see also so many things that distress, that are not in balance, and await the work of our hands and hearts. Why Church-Going? Why Here? You are not quite sure what to tell people who wonder why you go to Church and especially this church? Tell them you have this weakness for beauty the beauty of our human capacities to grow our souls and add harmony to the world. A weakness for beauty that is blessing, healing, challenging and that you want company in stirring up the hidden good embedded in all occasions that you want to walk not alone, but with others in this marvelous, tender, dangerous, sad, beautiful world. 10
Tell them of your faith in beauty within you and each one of us, and you just want to see it flower. To snatch the eternal out of the desperately fleeting. To grow in spirit is to grow in appreciative awareness [and to] stir up more of the hidden good. Faithfulness to one another, to sacred moments, to beauty To stir up more of the hidden good, even in heartache. A colleague (Deane Starr) described part of his response to the death of his son who died of AIDS and how attending traditional churches from his childhood offered no comfort. He spoke about the experience he had on a harbor ship cruise after the memorial service. That evening, I took a sunset cruise out into the Gulf of Mexico. The sunset was unbelievable! The entire sky, from horizon to horizon, was aglow with color reds, and purples, and pinks, and golds. Then the colors faded and that indescribably deep, deep indigo of late twilight filled the sky. The boat turned around to head back to Naples. There on the eastern horizon was a full and glorious moon. With tears streaming down my face, I realized that even though my son s being had been scattered, he remained a part of this awesome beauty. We live and die and laugh and cry in time, day by day. so fleeting, yet the great magic trick of our existence is to snatch the eternal out of the desperately fleeting. To stir up the good embedded in every occasion, to find beauty, caring and balance as part of the Way of Life, the ways of our lives. We know so little, yet we do know this: the invincible shield of caring repudiates violence and offers Courage. This much, at the very least, is the Way of Life. 11