Chapter 6

Thoughts and Applications on the Tao Te Jing through the lens of Master Zhu's Teachings.

The spirit of the valley never dies

It is called the female

The gateway of the dark female

Is called the root of Heaven and Earth

Uninterrupted as though persistent

It is effective without effort

In the last chapter my thought is it was talking of creation, the pure yang of the I Ching called “The Creative”. I think this chapter is talking of the pure Yin of the I Ching called “The Receptive”. Within Taoist understanding is the balance of Yin and Yang. It’s the rising of the ideas (creation) from the canvas (receptive) that gives contrast, shape, and feel to everything we know. It is the backdrop that gives flavor to our thoughts. Within ourselves I see the voice of our bodies (emotions), and the voice of our minds (ideas). These 2 entities intertwine forming the basis of our understanding of anything.

How and when is our emotional life developed? When is it forged from the experience of our lives into some type of constitution? Is every thought, every defense mechanism forged from this emotional canvas? I watch young children run around filled with joy, then catapulted into utter despair crying and sobbing, then back into pensive hidden curiosity. I watch and think; their lives are free flowing from pure experience, their live and their emotions erupting without restraint. Their emotions coming and going like sunlight flickering through leaves on a partly cloudy day.

From my understanding at this moment, I think of emotions as coming from our endocrine system. I touched on this in Human Metaphors. I see emotions as physiological responses to our perceptions. Young children are an amalgamation of emotions and experiences. When does this change? When are they cast out of the bliss of childhood into the indifference of the world? This is different for each individual. I imagine the point when the realization of the indifference of the natural world and a glimpse of our situation of us as human beings as a whole creates an emotional equilibrium. We will attempt and try to maintain this equilibrium for the remainder of our lives. This emotional equilibrium is a balance of secretions from our endocrine system that is unique for each individual. This emotional equilibrium is the canvas where we paint and create our lives, it’s what terrifies us and also where we create meaning. I think it’s the fabric of mental illness and addictions. I also think of it as the root of curiosity, the backbone of every question. When we see this emotional equilibrium within ourselves, how does this reflect on the societies we create?

Can we see this understanding as:

Is called the root of Heaven and Earth

Uninterrupted as though persistent

It is effective without effort