#1 Timeless wisdom for modern activists

Verse 21 of the Tao Te Ching - in the acclaimed translation by Stephen Mitchell - written 2500 years ago by Lao Tzu, an author shrouded in mystery. Lao Tzu only needed 5000 words, 5000 words of sacred poetry, to say it All.

— 21 —

The Master keeps her mind

always at one with the Tao;

that is what gives her her radiance.

The Tao is ungraspable.

How can her mind be at one with it?

Because she doesn’t cling to ideas.

The Tao is dark and unfathomable.

How can it make her radiant?

Because she lets it.

Since before time and space were,

the Tao is.

It is beyond is and is not.

How do I know this is true?

I look inside myself and see.

Sacred texts are mirrors. Sacred texts are alive. When we are open, they open up to us. When we are closed, they are too.

As activists we tend to be about action. When I read the Tao Te Ching, it invites me to slow down and to explore the nature of my actions. Our actions are never neutral. Because we “cling to ideas”. We have the tendency to name, grasp, fix and focus on what’s visible. We tend to identify with constructed mindsets and our linear, leftside brain.

What if change does not depend on the “right” action or solution? What if change depends on transforming our interior landscape that gives rise to the action?