CHAPTER 1

Taoism

In introducing the Way of the Tao to you, I must first speak about the cultureof Taoism. Taoism reaches back to prehistoric times; there is no date allocatedto it. Taoism is about the people being in harmony within themselves and withnature. It really means being in harmony with every thing around you. In ancienttimes, people began to adapt to and evolve in the environment they were livingin. Their understanding or harmony with nature was called the Tao. All those whowere seeking harmony within the self were considered Taoists. They pondered thequestions of life and evolution. These were the people who became greatthinkers, and brought to our world the teachings that I am presenting to you.

Around 600 B.C. there was a spiritual renaissance—not only in China, but also inall parts of the world—and great spiritual teachers appeared, offeringtransformational teachings. These teachings became the foundation for most ofthe philosophies and religions of the time. We know who they are because it wasthrough them that we gained this understanding of how to be in harmony withourselves once again. Among these great teachers is Lao Tzu, who was a vitalpart of the transformation that China was going through.

The Chinese acknowledge Lao Tzu as the founder of philosophical Taoism, which isa school of thought that reflects on nature. Lao Tzu's name translates as "OldChild," which shows us that life itself is a perpetual paradox. Lao Tzu'steaching in the Tao Te Ching presented people with a new way to think aboutthemselves, life and the world around them.

Taoism is the way of surrender to the ebb and flow of nature as the way tofulfillment. It turned its back on the court, on statesmanship, and commerce, infavor of the silence and remoteness of meditation in the mountains. Tao means anunderstanding of self—self-cultivation, self-contemplation—it always deals withself.

The teachings I'm presenting are from the Yu Ching Huang Lao Pai, or the JadePurity School of Taoism, which happens to be one of the oldest schools ofTaoism. Its founders are Huang Lao, or Lao Tzu, and the Yellow Emperor. Now, asin the time of Lao Tzu, religions and philosophies are undergoing a renewal, andare bringing people through transformation into realization of self.

CHAPTER 2

The World

Taoists represent the world as the Three Purities, or three aspects ofourselves. Three symbols are used to represent these three dimensions (seefigure 1, page 6). These dimensions are internal. At the same time they areexternal. In relationship to Wu Chi, Tai Chi appears as darkness. Inrelationship to Tai Chi, yin/yang appears as darkness. To the Taoist, yin/yang,the conscious mind, this material world appears as darkness within darkness. Sothe Taoist walks in harmony with nature, to leave the darkness within darknessand come into the light.

Mystics speak of this dual darkness as two nights: the first is the dark nightof the soul; the second is the dark night of the spirit. Shamans speak about thenight and say that, in order to get through the night, you need an ally. Mysticssay you need a spiritual guide. Whether your ally is one of the archetypalforces of the shaman, one of the mystic's ascendant masters, or a deity ormaster of your own tradition, you may call on that energy to help you on yourjourney through the darkness into the light.

Grand Purity—The Conscious Mind

Grand Purity is a dimension that is a window to the soul, but ego, or consciousmind, functions like a mirror. Its focus is on the external. Everything you seein the physical dimension is a reflection of your conscious mind. Everything youexperience has been reflected back to the mirror. The way you feel about life,people, and the world around you, the things you think, say, and do, fashion theresponse you get back from life, and shape your reality. So you get from theworld what you give to the world. The conscious mind's reflections draw to youeverything, physically, mentally, emotionally. You attract to you the samevibrations you give off. This is the nature of yin/yang. When conscious mindfunctions as a window, its focus is on the soul. Using psychic abilities,divination (such as the I Ching,), meditation, dreams, or Jung's centroversion,you can access the soul and begin to tune into your higher self.

The conscious mind is like a mirror. It mirrors everything—physical, mental, andemotional—that you perceive about yourself. If you feel fear, it will mirror thefear and you will have fear coming to you. If you feel anger, it will mirror theanger and you will have anger coming to you. It reflects what you feel aboutyourself. If you feel you have an ugly body, it will give you an ugly body. Yourconscious mind will reflect that image to you. Everything in your life is therebecause of you. You can say, "No that's not true," or, "When I was young, mymother did this to me, and that's why I'm like this now." You can make excusesfor many things, for many reasons about why you are, and who you are. But whenit comes down to it, there is no one who can take the responsibility except you,even though, as a child, you may have been forced into a mold of negativity. So,to begin, you must accept yourself as you are and start from there.

Whatever you perceive about yourself, you automatically reflect it, like amirror, and pull that vibration to you. There is a universal law that says,"Like attracts like." You pull to you the same vibration that you give off. Fearpulls fear; anger pulls anger; love pulls love. If you understand that, youbegin to perceive how to break away from this thing we call the conscious mind.Remember that the conscious mind, in reality, is located in the brain. Thesubconscious mind, on the other hand, is an energy center within the physicalbody that exists beyond the physical dimension. Energy can never be created ordistorted; it can only be transferred.

From time to time, each of us has said to ourself, "I am sick, I am tired, I amjust really sick and tired of all of this." That is not true. You are not sick;your body is sick. You are not tired; your body is tired. Each aspect of self,indeed, extends beyond the physical dimension, beyond the body. The first stageof spiritual understanding involves getting beyond the body, and controlling it.It makes a big difference when you can say, "Well, my body is tired, but I'mnot." So, if you have anger, it doesn't mean you have anger. Your subconsciousmind is merely bringing the anger forth from you. That anger, in essence, islike a vibration released by the body, allowing an expression of energy. Inessence, you are not really angry; a part of you that you have allowed to comeforth is angry.

Crystal Purity—The Subconscious Mind

Crystal Purity is everything that has been reflected in the mirror, everythingyou have experienced in this lifetime; it represents your soul, your personalreality. When soul, or subconscious mind functions as a mirror, its focus is onthe external. The subconscious mind is like a computer program that containseverything you have allowed into your being. It is that which you have broughtwith you from the past. It also represents a blank wall at which you come to,yet can never seem to pass. It is the source of those things that haunt you andcause your imbalances. These imbalances must be reflected back from the mirrorof your soul, back to your conscious mind, so that you can reflect on thecontent of your subconscious mind, reprogram it, and make yourself whole, assoul, as symbolized by the circle.

The circle represents the Pa Qua, the Taoist magic circle, similar to the NativePeople's Medicine Wheel (see figure 2, page 11). Its eight subtle energiessymbolize eight aspects of creation and eight aspects of self. When you bringthese eight subtle energies into balance within, you become whole as soul. Whensoul, subconscious mind, functions as a window, its focus is on the divine. Whensoul links with the divine as higher self or the Great Soul, it steps beyondyin/yang and becomes grounded in Tai Chi. There is no duality here, no good orbad, no right or wrong. Everything just is, and everything is perfect—the divineflowing through all.

Seekers and fellow travelers are constantly trying to understand more aboutthemselves, but they frequently come up against a blank wall, something they cannever seem to pass. The blank wall represents the obstructions within yoursubconscious mind, that keep you from getting beyond those things that hauntyou, that instigate your reaction from a place below the surface ofconsciousness, and prompt your anger, your frustration, your prejudice, and yourhatred. It is something you have allowed to be a part of yourself, somethingdeeply rooted in the back of your mind. You live within it, and you are unableto get beyond it so that you find there are certain imbalances in your life.

You may have strong feelings about certain indiscretions of those around youthat bring forth your anger. Perhaps you feel that those around youmisunderstand you. You may find that your thoughts and reflections that lead youto take a new direction may be doubted or ridiculed by them. In dealing withthat doubt or ridicule, you may have to relate to patterns that other peoplecreate. What they are really saying is, "What you are doing is not my reality,shape up and be like me." When you understand that, you understand thateveryone's reality is very different. Everything that you see is perceived inyour own personal way, because your subconscious mind perceives things in anindividual way.

Some may feel very unhappy about their bodies. Some may be very concerned aboutmoney. Some may worry about finding a good husband, a good wife, or the rightperson for a partner. Every time you consciously think of something in your lifethat you lack, you have allowed that particular reality to become a part of you.If you feel fear because of "who you are," or "where you live," that fearattracts fear. So you have to become more conscious, not only of your thoughts,but also of your feelings and emotions. Remember, you attract the vibrations yougive off.

You must also become more conscious of how you relate to others. If you asksomeone, "How is your stomach? Are you feeling better now?" you areacknowledging the fact that another person is feeling sick, and, therebypossibly amplifying their feeling of sickness. Words, and even thoughts, ofaffirmation have a very powerful effect on us. You may not realize it, but wordscan play a very significant role in your life. Each time that you communicatewith someone you create energy vibrations. These energy vibrations can help, andthey can also hurt. They can create balances, as well as imbalances.

As you become conscious of the energy vibrations around you, you realize thatyour soul or subconscious mind is an energy body. Crystal Purity is thedimension in which your soul becomes purified like a crystal and made whole. Itis where you throw off the gross vibrations of the physical and open up to thespiritual energy or life force at the core of your being.

Spiritual energy is what we call Jade Purity. It is pure energy that has not yetmanifested into the world. It is represented by a dotted circle, because energyis never confined, but is constantly in motion.

Although some of us may have what we call spiritual guides, they are notnecessarily spiritual energy. Spiritual energy doesn't care about you. It onlycares that you care about your self and, of your own free will, seek it, becausespiritual energy, in essence, is the essence of what you are.

Everything through which you allow this energy to come forth is what we call"the vibrations." These vibrations represent the circumference of the unbrokencircle; it is how you make use of the energy. Your vibration is thecircumference that surrounds the energy and molds it to make you what you are.Everything you perceive about yourself is here, simply because you allow it tobe. If you feel that you are poor, the subconscious mind says, "Oh, you feelpoor, that means you should not receive." If you do indeed receive, you aregoing against your subconscious mind. Thus, when you say, "I'm poor," you'llfind that you will be poor. If you say, "I'm sick," you'll find that you will besick. The vibration derives from this energy, this circuit that is going outfrom the center of your being.

Like electricity running through a wire, it creates a vibration. The electricitytravels through to the lightbulb, and you have light. That light is a vibration,or an output of the energy. Your subconscious mind is basically the energy thattravels and creates the vibration, or what is called your conscious mind, thethings that you perceive. In extending this further, you can say that yoursubconscious mind is much like your computer's memory. It is a storehouse thatallows everything you experience to be contained within that area of your being.It therefore allows you to be you, but it also allows you to grow.

Jade Purity—The Unconscious Mind or Group Consciousness

Jade Purity is represented by a dotted circle, because it represents an energyof pure consciousness that can never be confined. When unconscious mindfunctions as a mirror, its focus is on creation. It's an all-knowing energy; itis pure, but impersonal. You must take an interest in yourself first, before ittakes an interest in you. It moves through everyone and everything. Whenunconscious mind functions as a window, its focus is on the "One."

Jade Purity is that part of you that is separate from both the conscious andsubconscious mind. In the West, this is sometimes called the "I Am" or Spirit;in Chinese, it is called the Tao. Spirit is the spark of spiritual energy thatis the life force of your soul. It is the thing about which you know nothing,but which you want to come in contact with inside yourself. It is Spirit thatremains after you shed your body and your mind. The essence of this energy is,in itself, formless. That's why it is called Spirit. It has no shape; it is nota physical being. Most people like to describe it as light. What better word canyou use to describe energy? The "I Am" is, indeed, a consistent energy. It issomething that fluctuates and perpetuates throughout eternity. It always hasbeen, and it always will be. It's something that always flows through younaturally. However, because it is spontaneous, it needs channels through whichit can express itself. It expresses itself through the body and through themind. It allows you to learn more about yourself, within this thing that we callthe physical dimension. You discover that the "I Am" that you are is somethingthat works within yourself. It is your relationship to the all-that-is, throughyour relationship to your higher self, or Tao in the here and now.

This is not something that you can learn looking outside yourself. It's notsomething that you can receive by reading a book, or through observation.Spirituality is something that can never be taught. It is something that has tobe deeply experienced, deeply felt by each individual. It is something that youfind by searching within yourself. You may be able to find books that will sparkthis process. Indeed, everything that you use in this search is but a tool. Thisbook, too, is like a tool—like a flint that can ignite a spark that you fanyourself. You create the fire; you ignite the spiritual energy within yourself.No one else can do that for you, because you are the Tao. You are the spiritualenergy within your self, you are the "I Am." There is no such thing as an "I Am"out there that you reach out for. The "I Am" is in you already. If you reach infor it, it will be all around you. That's the essence of the Way of the Tao—toget to the point of understanding, and, going beyond understanding, to trulyknowing, then going beyond knowing to simply being yourself.