Facing Reality (How to Surf the Tao Lesson 6)
Jeff bought Stacie this sweater in honor of her death doula work.
Drawing from Lao Tzu chapters 16, 62, 70, snd 71, we explain one of the most important lessons of the Tao Te Ching: that it’s not really that hard to find the truth, but it’s hard to face the truth. This episode discusses the ways in which facing the truth can truly set us free. Most importantly, we become free from the fear that keeps us from truly living. Toward the end, Jeff speaks to religious leaders who fear death and points toward a way to secure fearless love without wavering. Stacie shares just a bit about why her work as a death doula is actually about abundant life now. They conclude by exploring how the fear of death and the afterlife is a chief source of unhealthy manipulation in religious circles.
“Your ego always exists for something or someone else. With ego, you’re giving away your power & become a slave to them or that thing, since you don’t have your own agency at that point. So let your ego sit this one out so you can rediscover your true self & nurture it.”
TOPICS DISCUSSED
Instagram ads
Socrates
Climate change
Justin Bieber’s shady pastor, Carl Lentz
Jordan Cooper’s video on Ravi Zacharias
The afterlife
Our Jesus Chapter called Be a Loser
Tao Te Ching Chapters
16.
Empty yourself.
Embrace peace upon peace.
The galaxies blast out
from the center of the cosmos.
Await their fall back to the center.
Living things sprout forth
and then return to the soil.
Returning to the soil brings rest in peace,
Peace is returning to our true self.
Returning to our true self is to be steadfast.
Being steadfast brings utter clarity.
Wavering brings delusion and catastrophe.
Being steadfast involves facing reality.
Facing reality is being unbiased.
Being unbiased grants power over oneself.
Having power over oneself is heavenly.
To be heavenly
is to surf the Tao.
The Tao is everlasting,
This is dying to your false ego
and letting your true self emerge unscathed.
60.
Govern a great country
the way you cook a small fish:
use a light touch.
By letting the Tao bring
balance to the world,
evil forces have no effect.
Moreover, it’s false idols
can’t mislead the people,
and neither will the sages.
With no one to lead the people
astray, Te flows abundantly.
70.
My teachings are simple,
and effortless to practice.
Yet nobody seems to
understand what I’m saying,
much less how to pull it off.
My words are rooted in ancient wisdom.
My actions flow with the creative
principle of the cosmos.
But, since most are unaware of all this,
they can’t understand what I’m saying.
Indeed, only a few can catch my drift.
This is why I’m valuable.
It’s why sages might not look like much,
but carry within themselves
the greatest of treasures.
71.
Knowing when you don’t know
is the height of sanity.
Ignoring what you do know
is the depth of unhealthy thinking.
Only when you recognize that
your unhealthy thinking
is unhealthy,
can your mind
finally enjoy health.
The Sage acknowledges
unhealthy thinking as unhealthy;
therefore, she keeps her wits about her.
Stacie’s sister’s chihuahua in Bindi’s halloween costume, mentioned on the show.