Discord is the necessary counterpart of
harmony, just as disorder compliments order.
Taoists are not simplistic optimists. They understand that the broad balance
and harmony is complex and dynamic.
Everything is always dynamically balancing with itself. Thus we are always
in a condition of dynamic balancing with ourselves and the world.
To be balanced is to be balancing.
In every moment there is the opportunity for the balance and harmony to
maintain or restore itself if we have enough skill to move appropriately
with the dynamics of the process. Balance restores itself from instant to
instant when the sage discovers moment by moment how to let the inherent
condition return in its own way.
(Ray Grigg)
Scour away weakness
An ordeal can serve to scour away your weaknesses.
You face your own
hypocrisy and
self-deceit. You come to
terms with yourself.
It is an amazing thing to be faced with a mirror of your
own
character.
You may not be too impressed with what you
see.
We are all fools and geniuses, good people and bad. The whole scope of human
character lies within us all.
Ordeals make you look long and hard. Having truly looked, you change.
Everyday ordeals
There are many ways in which you can undertake an ordeal:
Fasting
Cycling
Running
Hiking
Yoga
Sustained practice of any of these activities will
test you.
They do not offer the diverse range of ordeal experienced by our students but
they are all worthwhile challenges.
Fasting
Going without food for 24-48 hours will take you into a realm of unexpected
dependency and doubt.
You may suffer the angst of
sugar addiction and come to terms with your own
conditioned
greed.
Drink water by all means, but stay off the food.
If you plan to fast, do some research first. Not everyone should fast.
Cycling
An 80 mile cycle journey is a good way to spend your Sunday.
With brief stops for water and food, you can pretty much keep the cycling going
throughout much of the morning and afternoon.
If you cannot commit a day, then consider an hour. Work at cycling non-stop (in
high gear) for an hour.
Should you live on or near The Pennines, this will not be as easy as it sounds.
Almost every route involves a climb.
Running
Running can be very tough and will test your
capacity to stay loose and focussed.
Many runners succumb to bad posture and poor coordination.
They suffer countless injuries.
If you want guidance and challenges, join a club.
Hiking
You start walking before 9 and stop around 4 in the afternoon. The entire day
has been spent leaving civilisation behind.
Hiking is an excellent way of shedding the detritus of the week. Every step
takes you further away from what has been.
Eventually you may reach a point - with the wind and the rain in your face and
the fatigue in your muscles - where you come face-to-face with the 'here and
now'.
Yoga
A tough
yoga class can be unbelievably hard on your body.
The postures really push the joints and muscles beyond your 'comfort zone'.
You do it to yourself
Some people turn perfectly reasonable situations into an
ordeal.
Essentially they torture themselves.
The innate need to suffer and find hardship turns something simple into a really
unpleasant event.
People like this have no need of ordeals.
Or maybe they do... Perhaps something real will jolt them out of their habitual
martyrdom?
Inadvertent ordeals
Many ordeals seem to fall upon us unexpectedly:
job
loss,
homelessness, addiction, cancer, failed
relationship...
Some are less dramatic, but equally distressing.
Again, what is needed is the ability to cope. To endure. To see it
through.
Everyone is strong. Everyone has grit.
You just have to realise it and bring the stronger part of you to the forefront.
Association
We are in
relationship with everyone around us.
Often our relationships are disagreeable. Yet, it is not so easy to extricate
ourselves from them.
You cannot simply quit your
job because you dislike somebody.
It is necessary to put up with the situation. To learn how to cope. To release
your tension.
Closer relationships
Intimate relationships are more complex than all others.
You usually need to really work at the relationship if you want it to last.
The partnership should not be an ordeal, but if it feels like one, something is
amiss and needs to be addressed.
People quit too easily.
If you have invested a lot of time and effort in a relationship, be prepared to
listen and have
consideration.
In-laws
Family can represent an ordeal of a very personal and unpleasant nature.
Relations with your own parents are often difficult enough. But in-laws are
something else entirely.
It is quite common for people to have serious difficulties with their in-laws.
Rather than be bullied or irritated by your in-laws, treat them as a challenge.
Stay integrated and true to yourself.
Do not allow them dominion over you, and take whatever reasonable steps you can
to avoid offending them in return.
Become aloof and immoveable. Unsullied by manipulation and pettiness. Be polite
but distant.
Endure them.
Page created 29 March 2003