Principle 12 Accumulating Action 3 – 2021
December 16, 2021
Principle 12. The Principle of Accumulating Action. Third Week:
“Contradictory and unifying acts accumulate within you. If you repeat your acts of internal unity then nothing can detain you.”
Last Time: This time: Words of Wisdom From an Old Friend
This time: The Second Part of that Quote
QUESTIONS
This Week:
Since this is the third week devoted to considering this principle our focus will be on the present moment and on trying to understand how the principle relates to events unfolding right now.
Keeping Your Focus Simple:
Everyone has their own way of approaching these principles. In keeping with the approach I’ve explained before I’ll spend a brief time this week looking for at least one current situation where old habits are pushing me one way or another.
Personal Reflections:
Here’s a few thoughts related to this month’s principle. I hope you find them of some use in your own reflections. Please consider sharing your ideas with us at the meeting this Wednesday, on our Facebook page or by email.
Last week I quoted some phrases from Laozi’s Tao Te Ching (the Classic of the Way and its Virtue). It’s not the first time in these notes that I’ve referred to him. It seems to me that his writings, and our principles share a lot in common when it comes to their “general tone” and “mental direction.” If you haven’t surmised, I’m a big fan of his and I’d like to mention a few more of his verses this week. The first one contains a very well known line from this extraordinary author. As for the second, it not only reflects the the same conclusion as this month’s principle, it seems to to so in almost the same words. I believe that it can be very helpful to see the principle through these eyes from a very distant time and place .
Here’s the first quotation. It’s just a few phrases from chapter 64 of the Tao Te Ching. To my ears it resonates with the lines about water from last week’s quote from “the Venerable Master”. This selection ends with a sentence that we have all heard in one or another variation. In fact we’ve heard it so often, or seen it on posters, or so many Facebook postings, that it’s probable that familiarity has once again reduced words of wisdom to just more empty platitudes. But here we go, trying to hear these words as if for the first time.
“A tree as great as a man’s embrace springs from a small shoot;
A terrace nine stories high begins with a pile of earth;
A journey of a thousand miles starts under one’s feet.”
Perhaps you’ve heard it as “a journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step”, or in some other variant. But in any case I think if we can open ears our ears a little we will recognize that it is potentially much more than a pithy banality.
The final part of our principle says: “If you repeat your acts of internal unity, nothing can detain you.” The second quotation is from chapter 59 of the same work. It has been translated in many ways. It complements this month’s principle wonderfully.
“Caring for others and serving heaven depends on repeated accumulation.
With virtue accumulated all obstacles can be overcome..
Having overcome all obstacles there are no limits.
Knowing the absence of limits, one is fit to rule.
This is like a plant that has deep roots and a firm stalk.
The way of long life and eternal vision.”
Coming Up:
Last week we focused on getting a general sense of this principle and our thoughts about it. This week we consider the principle in relation to past events. Over the following weeks we’ll look at how this principle could be applied to our present circumstance, and what it might mean for us in future situations.
Remember:
You will be like a force of Nature when it finds no resistance in its path. Learn to distinguish a difficulty, a problem, an obstacle, from a contradiction. While those may move you or spur you on, contradiction traps you in a closed circle with no way out.
Silo_The Inner Look
Worth Repeating:
It is here amid all the little joys, and daily crap that we can actually create a discipline that can be practiced at every moment and in every circumstance. This is a dynamic meditation, requiring neither particular postures, nor special conditions. With time and application these efforts give all my activities a particular tone, mood, and mental direction.