Daily Tao
#300 - Righting
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A deviation of a hair’s breadth at the center
Leads to an error of a hundred miles at the rim.
When the effort is so slight,
Why should you hesitate to set things right?
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DMD:
There are many people who endeavor to know Tao. In the greatest sincerity, they take music lessons, read scriptures, learn foreign languages, study nutrition, change their dress, and go to temples—all in hopes that they will reach Tao. Sadly, they miss it by a hair’s breadth. For a person to awaken to Tao, someone must give them a spark. Perhaps this is what is called direct transmission. It is odd, but this is the only way that knowledge of Tao is passed on.
Book knowledge can help and give one a deep theoretical background, but the true understanding of Tao still comes person to person. There is no other way.
So if you have any true understanding of Tao, you got it from someone. If you meet someone else who needs that spark and you are in the position to give it, then do so. Don’t be selfish. There are so many people out there who want guidance and who cannot get it. If you can make a difference for at least one person, then you have tremendous merit indeed.
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My Take:
A deviation of a hair’s breadth at the center leads to an error of a hundred miles at the rim. When the effort is so slight, why should you hesitate to set things right? That’s powerful stuff right there. So many times in history, as in nature, a tiny, insignificant event has led to profound changes no one could have seen coming.
Could we one day write about how a small protest in Zuccotti Park changed the world? Or maybe how the case of Scot Olsen, one in crowd of many, changed the way we look at police brutality and governance once again? Let’s hope so. What small thing, what seed, will eventually grow it’s way into being remembered as the catalyst for real change for our societies? That’s right, societies. Plural. Humanity. Humans. This is no longer a protest on Wall Street. It’s a global awakening, a Righting of wrongs too long ignored. A Righting for people, the earth, and a purging of all those who have profited from their abuse.