HUMAN NATURAL GIFT
We were all born with a
natural gift -- freedom from anxiety and fear, expectation and regret, ambition
and disappointment. However, as we grow older, we knowingly or unknowingly
abuse or misuse that natural gift.
This is how.
We begin to develop our
sensations and become affected by them. We all have our five senses: seeing,
hearing, touching, smelling, and tasting; they then become our perceptions and
sensations that are stored as memories in our subconscious minds. Over the long
haul, these accumulative experiences form our beliefs and personalities, and
make us who we are. In other words, these memories become our bondage and we no
longer have that innate freedom.
It is difficult to
regain that natural gift once we have relinquished it. To illustrate, if we
experienced something unpleasant in the past, we might have anxiety and fear
that it would happen again. On the other hand, if we experience something
pleasant, we would expect it to happen again; our expectations begin to precondition
our minds to do certain things that we think will enable us to fulfill that
expectations; by doing so, we pick and choose; any wrong choice or decision may
lead to regret. By the same token, disappointment may be the consequence of
ambition.
How do we regain that
natural gift?
Understand the natural
cycle of things. Everything follows a natural cycle: what goes up must come
down; the cycle is like the four seasons, or day and night. We, as humans,
naively believe that we can change the natural order of things, deluding
ourselves into thinking that we can make things happen the way we want them.
Not following the natural order stems from the human ego. Accepting things as
they are is the pathway to true human wisdom It is by no means a passive
outlook of life: we do what we can, and no more, and with no expectation and no
judgment,
“Good fortune and misfortune are all in one.
Seeking one and rejecting the other,
we become completely confused.”
(Chapter 58, Tao Te Ching)
we become completely confused.”
(Chapter 58, Tao Te Ching)
“There is no gain without loss.
There is no abundance without lack.
We do not know how and when
one gives way to the other.”
(Chapter 42, Tao Te Ching)
We do not know how and when
one gives way to the other.”
(Chapter 42, Tao Te Ching)
Stephen Lau
Copyright © Stephen Lau
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