The Herb of Harmony...

                                                            Harmony is the Subtle Herb of Wisdom

​The Taoist Sage of Ancient China gave particular attention to the cultivation of harmony in her life: it was as if harmony were the secret thread that wove together an entire life. She would practice the arts: particularly music, calligraphy, and poetry. She would broaden the grasp of her intellect through  the study of philosophy. She would weave her day around a contemplative stillness, whether meditating, gardening, cooking, walking, teaching, etc. And perhaps surprising to all of us multi-taskers, she still had time for visiting friends, delightful sex, trading goods in the market, playing with children, and counseling with village officials... 

​Fully human, fully alive...

How? 

​The short answer, is that she wasn't conflicted... that exact condition that dogs nearly all of us these days (thank you industrial, technological, and information revolutions!)... Inner confliction: that pounding sense that time is our personal enemy is the de-construction of whatever illusion we might have held that we could live in peace... Hurry-up! is the ruler of our day... every day... until, we find ourselves in an unsteady "daze"... Hanging-on... rushing for the coming week-end... all of which makes my fanciful description of the Taoist sage of Ancient China a sort of cruel hoax...

​But, if it is our hopeful intention to increase our sense of a sacred life, then we should consider the subtle herb of harmony... Harmony is not quietude in the face of everything that disrupts our intentions and our day! Rather, harmony is the perspective of peaceableness: time is whatever it is: we can neither speed it up, nor can we slow it down... time is like gravity... Hey, now that is an interesting thought: time is like gravity: Einstein showed that gravity bends time... So, what if we begin to consider ourselves as the invisible force of gravity during the course of our day -- and attentively practice bending the hours of our day to better serve our personal growth?

​Fifteen seconds, twenty seconds, thirty seconds, one minute and then ten: See! you can be the gravity of your day, capable of bending time! Thirty seconds of a slow, very conscious breath, and you tune into the vibratory Consciousness upon which the energy of the Universe constructs / creates everything... Thirty seconds here, thirty seconds there, and harmony becomes a reality: small at first, like the tiniest of seeds, but hey, what if that seed can grow? What if you tend to that tiniest of seeds with reverence and then with adoration? A life of harmony is a slow, yet steady, cultivation... within the reach of everyone and essential for building your sacred life... which is exactly how that Taoist became a sage...