In my lectures, I sometimes demonstrate my calligraphy, creating a brush and ink piece on the spot, or I have some of my calligraphic work on display for participants to see. As with the music I present during lectures, I do not do so because I am a virtuoso or a highly-trained master of technique. Rather, it is about demonstrating the flow of energy. My pieces are not the product of meticulous training, but rather are pieces of art created... Read more
Eating is one of the most natural things you do every day. It is something everyone must do, since it is essential to sustaining life. For most of human history, people struggled to find enough to eat every day, but now most people in developed societies have more than enough. You’d think that would be a very happy state of being, but people still struggle with lots of issues surrounding food. Sometimes people feel guilty about the kinds of food... Read more
Failure is part of life. From the time we are toddlers, stumbling in our first attempts to walk, until our last days on earth, we will all experience failure. In fact, there is no way to succeed or to grow in any way without failure. It is simply part of the learning process. A painter makes thousands of awkward brushstrokes on the canvas before creating a masterpiece. A baseball player strikes out hundreds of times before hitting a home run.... Read more
When I was a young person, I didn’t seem like the type who would make much of his life. I struggled in school, and for a long time, I didn’t really know which way to go in life. Then, something changed radically. After having felt hopeless for a long time, I threw my whole self into deep mind-body training, hoping to find some answers. Fortunately, these answers did come to me, and I suddenly felt a definite meaning and purpose... Read more
Everyone seems to want a big IQ, but there’s something else that’s far more important: EQ. EQ stands for Emotional Quotient, the level of emotional intelligence possessed by an individual. It’s more important than IQ because it has more effect on the quality of our lives than any other kind of skill, knowledge, or talent. In fact, without a high level of EQ, it is hard to make much of the other gifts we have been given in life. Emotional... Read more
Who am I? What is my real purpose? These questions represent everyone’s basic yearning to reunite and become one with his or her True Self. Answering these questions with simple sentences always falls short, though, because there is something ineffable and intangible about our True Self. Our language structures are part of this world, stuck in these three dimensions, but our True Self is far beyond this world. It will live on beyond our lives here, even beyond the life... Read more
Imagine if this sci-fi scenario were true: Unfriendly aliens come and deplete our resources and threaten to destroy our world. Their armies are bigger than any in our world, and their technology is more advanced. What do we do? All of humanity would have no choice but to band together as one people to face the threat. Well, in a way, this scenario already is true, except the perpetrators did not come from another planet. We humans have become the... Read more
People sometimes comment that an admirable older person is “aging gracefully.” Sometimes that means that they look attractive for their age, and other times it means that they have a good attitude about life, despite getting older. Our society puts a lot of emphasis on creating the former—looking young and attractive for as long as possible—but not as much on the later. But, really, which is more important? Looking good on the outside won’t mean much if you aren’t happy... Read more
Deciding how to live in the world can be difficult. The people around us present a lot of differing viewpoints, cultural traditions, and moral standards, leaving us to ask ourselves, “What is really right? How do I know the best path for me?” I say that you don’t really need to worry about what others think and do. Instead, you just need to follow the Tao of who you are. Recognize You Are Part of Nature People sometimes speak as... Read more
All of us develop bad habits of some kind or another during our lifetimes. Often, when we wish to change those habits, we find it difficult, even when the habit is something simple, like spending too much time surfing the Internet or going to bed too late. When little things like this start having negative effect on our lives, it seems like we should just be able to stop doing them by saying to ourselves, “That is not good for... Read more
Living Tao with Ilchi Lee
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