August 15th

Consistency


Without too much trouble,
One can keep to the main road.
But people love to be distracted,
And perspective is difficult.

People constantly declare that they want to walk the road of Tao. They say that all they want is to reach realization. But this is not true. If it were, they would simply walk their road and attain enlightenment right away.Instant realization doesn't happen very often because people become distracted. It is not given to every person to pursue Tao with the utmost consistency. Not every one even wants immediate realization. When enlightenment comes, the world becomes completely insignificant. Some of us still want to explore, be involved, amuse ourselves. That is all right, as long as you know that you are making up games and intrigues. In the final analysis, it is all right to be sidetracked a little bit, but one must always be cautious and come back to the main road without losing too much time or ground.
That is why a strong perspective is at the root of wisdom. One who follows Tao may appear to be going away from the goal, but such a person knows exactly when to pull back.

Personal Interpretation


This life is full of distractions. Many who claim to desire to keep to the main road of Tao are fooling themselves. If they wanted to do so, they would. But we are human, and many of us want to amuse ourselves, explore the more intriguing elements of our environment, smell the roses as it were. This is ok so long as we recognize what we are doing. Delaying the inevitable. The more we learn about the way things really are, the more this world will fall away. It is a frightening prospect. We cling to the known, daring not to delve too deeply into uncharted territory. Perspective means everything on the journey we must undertake. We must live in the world for awhile, but seek to see things from an enlightened point of view. We  may appear inconsistent to those judging our progress. Why remain worldly if the ultimate goal is to leave the world behind? Only we can know ourselves. Have we decided to exist in the world a little longer before letting it go or do we continue to reject the idea of enlightenment? So long as we feel that we are on the path which is right for us and so long as our behavior reflects a more enlightened state of mind, we are right where we ought to be.