A Soft Landing

Chuang Tzu, the old Taoist rascal, once wrote (about 2400 years ago!) that, living in the perfect flow of the Tao (the Universal Intelligence that's doing everything), was very much like the state of the drunken man:

"When a drunk falls from a wagon, he won't be killed, no matter how fast the wagon is moving.

His body is like other men's, but the way he falls is different.

Life and death mean nothing to him: thus fear cannot enter his heart.

He meets all circumstances like an infant, without a thought.

Unconscious that he is falling, he lands softly, and his bones bend like the branches of a tree.

If there is such safety in wine, how much more in wisdom!"

Of course, we don't need to get drunk to know this wisdom; all we need to do is breathe and

let go of our resistance - in body and mind - to the direction Life (the Tao) is moving us, and surrender to it's perfect flow. All we need to see is that; it is our struggle and resistance to Life that creates our pain and suffering, usually as a thought in our head that says, "What is happening in the present moment should not be happening." In this denial of reality, our body tightens up and becomes rigid, while our mind spins in confusion and fear. In this resistance to the way Life is unfolding, we crash land through every circumstance, while cutting ourselves off from our innate wisdom that always knows what to do, or not to do.

As we learn to trust the Tao completely, we find our body relaxing deeply and our mind opening to the ease that is always available, here and now. Because we have learned to trust the flow of our Lives and the direction we are moving in, we always land softly, exactly where we need to be. And because there is no fear in our hearts, we encounter each moment ready for whatever presents itself, knowing it is always exactly what we need.

Now, another glass of wine please....