live close to nature
The god-given is called Nature;
to follow that nature is called Tao. - Zisi
If the Tao is the universe, the natural world on earth is the perfect manifestation of the Tao. In nature, systems work in perfect rhythm to support a beautiful and complex world that supports all living things, at least for a time. We witness indescribable beauty as each individual element fulfills the purpose of its creation. And it's not just what we see and hear in nature that enchants us, it's what we feel. Where life abounds, chi flows free and strong, and we literally feel this as we surround ourselves in the natural world. And so in Taoism we spend time in nature to connect with our own self in its purest form. We observe nature to better understand how the Tao works. We even feel less alone in nature as we realize we are part of the community of the living world and can be nourished by all of the Tao's creations. Lao Tzu also refers to the workings of nature often to help us understand how the Tao works. By spending time in and contemplating nature, we better understand the best way to live.
The Romantics believed in the importance of staying connected to nature, as well. Thoreau left society to live in the woods because he wanted to, "live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if [he] could not learn what it had to teach . . . . [He] did not wish to live what was not life," as he believed "living was so dear." Lao Tzu surely would have agreed with him. Robert Louis Stevenson reminded us that it is not just the beauty of nature that heals us, but that "subtle something" that . . . "so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit."
Appeals to the best in us, our higher nature.
Reminds us that all voices matter, all beings have a part to play in the beautiful whole.
Completely immune to social conditioning. It restores us to our primal sense of truth, beauty and joy.
Following this path returns us to our root. (40, WM)
As important as the external natural world is our internal "nature." One of Lao Tzu's most central messages is that the lives we are living right now, and the things we value in life, are in large measure dictated by the society around us. To live as we were meant to live, and to live in a way that brings peace and joy, we have to shed this social conditioning and come to view life as a newborn child with a fresh, undisturbed vision borne of our true nature.
Doing this is not an easy task. How do we distinguish between the voice of ages and ages of human culture and our own natural voice in tune with the Tao? Reading true words that remind us of the reality of life, such as the Tao Te Ching, helps. When we are saturating ourselves with what is true, it's much easier to not be distracted by what is not true, and there are a lot of non-truths out there. And those non-truths are often pounding on our door through the words and actions of other people and the ideas and sensory experiences we allow to permeate our mind. I'm not advocating harsh censorship, but rather wise discrimination. It is naive to think that what we see and hear doesn't affect our beliefs, thoughts and feelings. Someone who wants to connect with the source of what is true and good in the world and in themselves will be selective in what they allow into their circle of influence while being careful not to cast harsh judgment on the world and people around them.
Meditation also helps us tune into the Tao and our own higher nature. When we sit in meditation, we allow our misconceptions about life and our priorities to become evident to us. Lao Tzu said we are not sick until we know we are sick. It's by opening ourselves up to the Tao and sitting in empty contemplation that we learn what sicknesses of perception and priority we have and how to let go of those and begin to see life more clearly. Lao Tzu believed that we don't learn and connect with ourselves by reading a book or going to school. Instead, it is only by sitting quietly and emptying our minds of the ways of thinking that have been handed to us by the culture around us that we become open to real learning and understanding. And we don't force anything. We allow learning to happen in its own way and on its own time table. Just like anything else, we don't have any expectations about figuring things out or becoming a sage on some kind of schedule. We give ourselves to quiet contemplation, and we listen, and that is enough. Meditation helps us become open to all the Tao has to give us. It also forces us to be in the present moment, the only place where we are truly alive.
QUOTES
“The god-given is called Nature; to follow that nature is called Tao."
- Zisi
“This fear, this night of the mind must be dispelled, not by the rays of the sun, but by the face of nature and her laws.”
- Lucretius
“Nature is the highest good and the highest excellence lies in accepting the laws of Nature completely.”
-Zhu Xi
“To understand the essence, listen to the call of frogs, the billowing wind, the falling rain,
all speaking the wonderful language of the essential Nature.” — Bassui Tokusho
“Let us give Nature a chance; she knows her business better than we do.” — Montaigne
“And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones,
and good in everything. I would not change it.” Shakespeare, As You Like It
“Stretching his hand up to reach the stars, too often man forgets the flowers at his feet.” - Jeremy Bentham
“Nature never did betray the heart that loved her.” — William Wordsworth
“Nature is eternally young, beautiful and generous. It pours poetry and beauty into all beings and plants, which are allowed to develop as they wish. It has the secret of happiness, and no one has been able to take it away from it.” — George Sand
“Blessed are they who never read a newspaper, for they shall see Nature and through her, God.” David Thoreau
“In general, I find that things that have happened to me out of doors have made a deeper impression
than things that have happened indoors.” — Bertrand Russell
“Nothing could persuade me that 'in the image of God' applied only to man. In fact, it seemed to me that the high mountains the rivers, lakes, trees flowers, and animals far better exemplified the essence of God than men with their ridiculous clothes,
their meanness, vanity, mendacity, and abhorrent egotism” — Carl Jung
“Let yourself be carried away, like the clouds in the sky. You shouldn’t resist. God exists in your destiny just as much as he does
in these mountains and in that lake.” — Hermann Hesse
“I cannot look at any green shoot sprouting from the soil without feeling that in that mystic presence I am closer to
the essence of reality than when my grandson tries in vain to explain to me the marvels of the atom.” — Will Durant
“If you lose touch with nature you lose touch with humanity.” — Krishnamurti
“In nature, the emphasis is on what is rather than what ought to be.” — Huston Smith
Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads. —Henry David Thoreau
I believe in God, only I spell it Nature. —Frank Lloyd Wright
Choose only one master—nature. —Rembrandt
There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature—the assurance that
dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. —Rachel Carson
It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something,
that quality of air that emanation from old trees, that so wonderfully changes and renews a weary spirit. —Robert Louis Stevenson
To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves. —Mahatma Gandhi
Study nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you. —Frank Lloyd Wright
Men argue. Nature acts. —Voltaire
Everything in nature invites us constantly to be what we are. —Gretel Ehrlich
The goal of life is to make your heartbeat match the beat of the universe, to match your nature with Nature. —Joseph Campbell
Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
Use what talents you possess: the woods would be very silent
if no birds sang there except those that sang best. —Henry van Dyke
Nature is loved by what is best in us. —Ralph Waldo Emerson
The world is not to be put in order. The world is order. It is for us to put ourselves in unison with this order. —Henry Miller
I felt my lungs inflate with the onrush of scenery—air, mountains, trees, people.
I thought, 'This is what it is to be happy.’ —Sylvia Plath
Nature is pleased with simplicity. And nature is no dummy. —Isaac Newton
Love the world as your own self; then you can truly care for all things. —Lao Tzu
If one way be better than another, that you may be sure is nature's way. —Aristotle
Going to the mountains is like going home. —John Muir
Those who find beauty in all of nature will find themselves at one with the secrets of life itself. —L. Wolfe Gilbert
My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing. —Aldous Huxley
Man’s heart away from nature becomes hard. —Standing Bear
If you wish to know the divine, feel the wind on your face and the warm sun on your hand. —Buddha
One who lives in accordance with nature does not go against the way of things. He moves in harmony with
the present moment, always knowing the truth of just what to do." —Lao Tzu