Two Wise Souls
Greetings. Spring is right around the corner, yet it doesn’t quite feel like it here in Port Townsend. Still cooler than normal.
One never knows when something someone says will resonate and have a nice, positive affect. These spoke to me and I hope they will for you. Enjoy.
Alan Watts
Alan Watts was very instrumental in popularizing the Taoist and Zen Buddhist philosophies in the U.S. I used to listen to his radio program in the late 1960’s and he had a big influence on my way of thinking. He said that the Taoist principle of opposites, expressed as yin and yang, pleasure and pain, life and death, “is more like lovers wrestling then enemies fighting. The art of life is more like navigation than warfare.”
What a great way to express the idea of complimentary opposites contained in all events and actions. Many people drive themselves crazy because they can see that the results of their possible action can go in two different directions, so they become immobilized into not doing anything.
We shouldn’t worry about making mistakes and getting off course in life. When sailing from one point to another, one spends much of the time off course, zigzagging acrosss the stright line. We need to keep in mind that one can not fight against what is natural, only use our intentions to help us navigate and flow in the appropriate directions.
Hans Selye
Yin and Yang, positive and negative, are concepts very familiar to all of us in the internal arts. There has to be balance for you to remain healthy, yet in our modern society, this balance is unique.
Hans Selye, the pyscho-physical researcher who coined the concept of Type A and Type B personalities, said that vengeance and bitterness are the emotional responses most likely to produce high stress levels. It is the high stress of our current lifestyle that causes most of the diseases and physical problems that cripple a majority of people.
Gratitude is the single response most nourishing to health. Think how you can add this necessary ingredient to your everyday life. When you commence a round of Tai Chi, take a moment to thank the powers that be that you discovered this marvelous meditative/healing art.