We live in a high-pressure, commercial society that relies on making you discontent. How can you make yourself content, instead?
I remember visiting an elderly widow in her home. When I knocked, she said, “Come in,” without rising to get the door. I let myself in and walked through her kitchen into her living room, where she sat with hands folded in her lap, facing a blank-screened TV. A closed book lay beside her.
“Were you reading?” I asked.
“No,” she said. “I was just sitting.”
“Were you knitting?” I asked, gesturing to the bag of yarn at her feet.
“No,” she said. “I was just sitting.”
“What were you doing while you were sitting?” I asked.
“Thinking,” she said.
“What were you thinking about?” I asked.
“Oh,” she said, “I was just thinking.”
“Weren’t you bored?” I asked.
Smiling, she said, “I make myself content.”
This is what verse twenty-six of Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching is about—making yourself content.
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Verse 26
J.H. McDonald Version
Heaviness is the basis of lightness.
Stillness is the standard of activity.
Thus, the Master travels all day
without ever leaving her wagon.
Even though she has much to see,
she is at peace in her indifference.
Why should the lord of a thousand chariots
be amused at the foolishness of the world?
If you abandon yourself to foolishness,
you lose touch with your beginnings.
If you let yourself become distracted,
you will lose the basis of your power.
Sit and Do Everything
I think Lao Tzu was talking about this content widow when he wrote, “Heaviness is the basis of lightness. Stillness is the standard of activity. Thus, the master travels all day without ever leaving her wagon. Even though she has much to see, she is at peace in her indifference.” When the hands grow heavy in the lap, it is then that the body can start to fly. When the eyelids close, it is then that the mind can start to see. I didn’t understand at the time how someone could just sit and do nothing. Now I realize that she was doing everything.
Strength in Detachment
“Why should the lord of a thousand chariots be amused at the foolishness of the world?” Lao Tzu asks. “If you abandon yourself to foolishness, you lose touch with your beginnings. If you let yourself become distracted, you will lose the basis of your power.” What great strength there is in detachment! When we disentangle ourselves from the world, we do not become distracted by the ten thousand things that pull at the mind.
This elderly widow possessed such quiet strength that no one would have known her to be the lord of a thousand chariots on the inside. She made herself so content with her internal world that she did not need the stimulation of soap operas and game shows. Had everything else been taken from her, she would still have had her hands to fold and her eyes to close, and that would have been enough. She was in touch with her beginning, with the Great Tao. Though she had lost much in life, her divine Source was the basis of her power.
Prayer of St. Patrick
It’s likely she did not know the Prayer of Saint Patrick, in which the saint prayed the presence of Christ all around him. Here is part of that prayer:
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Wherever he went, Patrick encircled himself with a bubble of Christ’s presence. Within that circle, everything was at peace. No weapon, scheme, temptation, or threat could enter that bubble to disturb Patrick from communion with Christ. Like my elderly friend, he simply made himself content with the divine presence. You can make yourself content as well, by practicing this presence of God.
Practice…
Practicing the presence of God means, like Patrick, constantly reminding yourself that God is all around you and flowing through you. Whether you find yourself sitting contentedly or whether you are threatened on all sides, you can practice the divine presence. You might do this by repeating Patrick’s prayer slowly, imagining a bubble of holy love energy surrounding you on all sides—above and below you, to your left and right, before and behind, inside you and all around you. Allow the heaviness of your hands to be the basis of your soul’s lightness. Let your inner stillness become the standard for your spiritual activity.
When you practice the presence of God, you become completely at one with the Divine. Not only is the Omnipresent One accessible to you, but also you become one with omnipresence.
When you practice God’s presence, the Almighty becomes strong for you so that your strength is found in weakness. When you practice the presence of the Tao, you become so connected to Omniscience that you can rest without needing to know. By simply practicing Presence, you can make yourself content.
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