Open Mind, Open Heart discussion

Verse 10:

Carrying body and soul and embracing the one, can you avoid separation?

Can you let your body become as supple as a newborn child's? In the opening and shutting of heaven's gate, can you play the feminine part?

Can you love your people and govern your domain without self-importance>

Giving birth and nourishing; having, yet not possessing; working, yet not taking credit; leading without controlling or dominating.

One who heeds this power brings the Tao to this very earth. This is the primal virtue.

Sure wish we'd get some other folks participating in this discussion, Starr!
Anyway, Verse 10 talks about the duality of paradoxes..body AND soul, and about ego and separation. I think Lao Tzu is asking us to see the oneness in all things and how we are connected to everything else....

Absolutely! I think it's noteworthy that this verse also includes a direct call to find that balance and connection by embracing the "feminine" (because that's the aspect that our world is still being asked to embrace, 2500 years later!)

"Feminine" qualities traditionally include receptivity, compassion, giving, nurturing, cyclical thinking, going within, etc. And it's not that the counterpoint "masculine" qualities aren't vitally important too, it's that we, as a planet, have been letting the masculine energy dominate for pretty much all of recent human history, to the point where we've gotten a little insane with it (war, conquest, striving to achieve but losing heart, etc.)

Lao Tzu saw it 2500 years ago, and we still see it today. I see this verse as a call: elevate the feminine in ourselves (and thus in our world) to find true balance.

P.S. Some other reading I've done recently comes from authors who believe that that's what will happen in 2012: the rise of the divine feminine in our world - finally! I like to think of it that way too.

The Tao Teh Ching is one of my favorite books ever, and it's really worth reading in multiple translations because they all seem so very different with their subtle emphasis.

Verse 10, quoted here, is from Wayne Dyer's translation, right? I really love his translations. They are probably the ones that resonate with me the most because it seems like he can see to the heart of their meaning without getting caught up in the words.

Just for comparison's sake, here's the same verse translated by John C. H. Wu (published in 1961):

In keeping the spirit and vital soul together,
Are you able to maintain their perfect harmony?
In gathering your vital energy to attain new suppleness,
Have you reached the state of a new-born babe?
In washing and clearing your inner vision,
Have you purified it of all dross?
In loving your people and governing your state,
Are you able to dispense with cleverness?
In the opening and shutting of heaven's gate,
Are you able to play the feminine part?
Enlightened and seeing far into all directions,
Can you at the same time remain detached and non-active?

Rear your people!
Feed your people!
Rear them without claiming them for your own!
Do your work without setting any store by it!
Be a leader, not a butcher!
This is called hidden Virtue.

Good to hear from you Emily! I'm new at studying the Tao Te Ching, and just this week got Dr. Dyer's "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life." It's really helping me get more out of Lao Tzu's verses. I'm only up to Verse 3 in it now but for every verse he suggests something to do or observe, and I can relate to something in my day with each one.
Namaste!

I have that book too. It's beautiful and full of insight.

Thanks for the welcome.

Namaste.

Another thought....I just picked up Excuses Be Gone by Wayne Dyer and does reflect on the Tao in this book as well. I like how he weaves in the Tao along with other examples.