Tao is a Chinese word meaning ”way” and signifies the underlying essence of the universe. The idea of the Tao comes from Lao Tse, a Chinese philosopher in the sixth century B.C. and author of a collection of writings called the Tao Te Ching. The Tao is something of a mystery – a paradox. It is hard to explain or understand with the mind but it can be experienced. And that is what we are going to be focusing on in these lessons – an experience of the Tao.

Throughout these lessons we will be exploring key passages from the Tao Te Ching. And along side Lao Tse we will also be quoting John-Roger whose contemporary spiritual teachings have a strong affinity with the Tao. Through these two perspectives we intend to guide you into an experience of the Tao. Each lesson is approximately 2-5 min long and they consist of reading, audio and video.

• 1
  Be Present

  “Stand before it and there is no beginning. Follow it and there is no end. Stay with the ancient Tao, move with the present.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 14, Tao Te Ching)

  Allow yourself to come present right now. With things just as they are – thinking what you are thinking, feeling what you are feeling and sensing what you are sensing. Just being present and observing. And when you find yourself drifting off in thought, bring yourself back into paying attention.

  Audio (2:11)
  

• 2
  Pay Attention

  If I have even just a little sense, I will walk on the main road, and my only fear will be of straying from it. Keeping to the main road is easy, But people love to be sidetracked.”– Lao Tse (Chapter 53, Tao Te Ching)

  “The essence is the essence. It is now—and has always been—eternally present. So you are never born, and you never die. All you do is focus your attention to whatever level you care to. That to which you are attentive, that which you’re visualizing, that upon which you focus your energy to alleviate stress, tension, and fear— that brings you freedom. It breaks the karmic blocks, and you rise to a new level.” – John-Roger

  Audio (0:37)
  

• 3
  Know Less and Less

  “In the pursuit of learning, every day something is acquired. In the pursuit of Tao, every day something is dropped.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 48, Tao Te Ching)

   

  “If you have the choice of the divine knowing or the divine unknowing, take the divine unknowing. As soon as you know, you have to take responsibility for all the actions. As soon as you don’t know, you still are open to receive of the grace of that.” – John-Roger

• 4
  Where are you going?

  “It is not wise to rush about.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 55, Lao Te Ching)

  “Is there any hurry to go anywhere? Where are you going that you are not all ready there? How can you be impatient when the important things are always present? It is not necessary to worry or pressure yourself. It all works out perfectly, contrary to anyone’s thought processes or how they feel about it.” – John-Roger

  One of the keys of the Tao is accepting what is, as it is. The underlying premise of the Tao is that you already are complete and whole in your essence. It is not a process of getting anything, earning anything, or acquiring anything, it is a process of being present, letting go and allowing yourself to simply be.

• 5
  Accept

  “Do not be concerned with loss or gain.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 13, Tao Te Ching)

  “Acceptance is not a mental, emotional, or physical position. It’s a state of being. There’s nothing you have to do with it, it’s just there.” – John-Roger

  A lot of the Tao is in the beingness and it helps to make that practical, because it’s easy to say, “Oh, just be.” And you go, “Okay, sounds good, what do I do?” It’s having a very high intent and paying attention with a very high purpose, a focus, a higher level of awareness and acceptance.

  Audio (1:03)
  

• 6
  Be Ordinary

  “Not putting on a display, they shine forth. Not justifying themselves, they are distinguished. Not boasting, they receive recognition. Not bragging, they never falter. They do not quarrel, so no one quarrels with them.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 22, Tao Te Ching)

  “Perfect your beingness by going slowly through the routine of your life until you have it mastered. Do the ordinary things that make up your life. Learn to do those things to the point of mastery. You’ll find great satisfaction in them. Conduct your life from a place of quiet, calm loving. Get it perfected so that the routine of your life does not distract you or disturb you and so you can maintain a state of loving in everything you do. Then you can expand the scope of your activity, moving your loving heart out to others in a natural, ordinary way. Then you are just present with people, loving them. Living your life in an ordinary way can be the most tremendous service to your fellow men.” – John-Roger

  Audio (1:28)
  

• 7
  Non-action

  “The world is ruled by letting things take their course. It cannot be ruled by interfering.”– Lao Tse (Chapter 48, Tao Te Ching)

  “There are many things in life you do not have to do. You do not have to seek love. You do not have to defend yourself. You do not have to be noticed. You do not have to go out and seek the madhouse world of success, fame, and fortune. You do not have to be what is called a “spiritual person”. You do not have to anxiously hope for anything. You do not have to be considered nice by others. You do not have to have security. Security lies in the inner awareness that there is no security. When you stop fighting for security and recognize that there is none, then there is no more concern about that.” – John-Roger

  Audio (2:35)
  

• 8
  Action from Being

  “A truly good man does nothing, yet leaves nothing undone. A foolish man is always doing, yet much remains to be done.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 38, Tao Te Ching)

  “If we can just be, and we can let that being of who we are come forward, and we can let our voice and our mind just present themselves, this being will do away with all the doing that has been our compulsive and obsessive behavior. That being comes forward, and then it does the doing. And there’s no karma because the action is done from the state of being, not from the state of ego, or from right and wrong or from “I’m supposed to know” or anything else like that.” – John-Roger

  The place that the action is coming from is the key. When we go out into the world, what kind of energy are we carrying with us? Are we going to be in our compulsiveness and our habit patterns, or are we going to be present in this energy of being?

  Walt Whitman describes this attitude, this beingness that we can carry with us beautifully:

  “We walk silent among disputes and assertions, but reject not the disputers nor any thing that is asserted. We hear the bawling and din, we are reached at by divisions, jealousies, recriminations on every side. They close peremptorily upon us to surround us, my comrade, yet we walk unheld, free, the whole earth over.”

  – Walt Whitman

• 9
  The Man of Understanding

  “Watchful, like men crossing a winter stream. Alert, like men aware of danger. Courteous, like visiting guests. Yielding like ice about to melt. Simple, like uncarved blocks of wood.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 15, Tao Te Ching)

  “Anyone can play the game. As a matter of fact, almost everyone plays the game except the man of understanding. He goes through the routine with you and laughs and has a good time, and you can’t understand why he’s not serious about this. It’s because he understands that there is nothing to be serious about, because the whole divine action of God is entirely present. And so this man of understanding is accused of being everything but understanding.” – John-Roger

  Audio (1:00)
  

• 10
  The Way

  “Without going outside, you may know the whole world. Without looking through the window, you may see the ways of heaven. The farther you go the less you know. Thus the sage knows without traveling; he sees without looking; he works without doing.” – Lao Tse (Chapter 47, Tao Te Ching)

  “Right now is the time to partake of everything. Right now is when the consciousness of reality is present. There is no time when it will be present other than right now. Therefore, you don’t have to go anyplace.” – John-Roger

  Video: (1:11)

  Learn More About Soul Transcendence

   

  The more you are loving, the more you free yourself to experience the Soul.

  – John-Roger, DSS