“Never jump out of the same hole twice.” – Deng Ming-Dao, 365 Tao

The weather in the early morning hours has been pleasant for the last few weeks, so I’ve been going outside for my morning meditation. I’ve positioned my chair to watch as the moon waxed into its fullness, lighting-up our backyard (yet not enough to read by.)

It will begin waning now, but that’s not why, on this morning, I stayed inside. My allergies have been worse lately (grass pollen, I think) so I decided inside would be best, at least for today.

My favorite chair is now my meditation centering space.

I switched on the light beside my favorite chair and settled in with my first cup of coffee. After a few sips, I picked up the neglected book that holds my daily meditations; they’re each short and help me focus my thoughts.

The book came from a trip, years ago, to the Outer Banks. I asked the woman who owns the eclectic collection in Buxton Village Books for something on Taoism. It’s a philosophy I became interested in after starting Qigong, Tai Chi, and meditation.

Her eyes brightened with enthusiasm as she asked if I was looking for something from the two thousand year old writings of the Chinese classical poets who influenced the beginnings of Zen Buddhism or maybe something more fitting for our lives today – something written for a Western mind but still with the yin and yang of the classics? I thought something fitting our lives today would be best.

She had just the book; it was one she used and gladly explained how it would, “… guide my meditation and allow my inner cultivation of character to lead to my outer resonance.” She added:

“When confronted with the mysteries of the universe and the adversaries of life, those who follow Tao think first to secure their own inner character and how this is directly at variance with a great deal of modern thinking.”

I’ve known many Outer Bankers over my years of visiting these secluded islands, and her words weren’t the way most of the year-round residents speak.

It sounded good to me, though, so that’s the book I bought. I promised myself I’d remember her, and her words, and hoped to someday understand the wisdom of both.

Thus, 365 Tao by Deng Ming-Dao has been by my side ever since.

I was a few weeks behind this morning after going outside in the dark, but I quickly found the right page and began.

The words for this day were about the value of “Variation” and how we all want to be successful. Yet how once we find something that works, it is hard to let it go. The writer continued by saying that in letting go, one may not be materially successful, but the larger success was in finding the spirituality of creativity. Thus when following Tao, it said, don’t cling to methods and dogma; be spontaneous.

In other words, don’t jump out of the same hole twice.

So if I want to discover the indefinable Tao, I need to ask, “What is this hole I must jump out of – for the first and last time – is it old or new?”

I’m not sure of my answer and that could be the best part of the journey.

What about you? When have there been times you needed a break from the dogma? Were those “jumps” good or bad for you?

As always, the conversation starts here.