The Futility of Chasing What Already Lies Within
Unsplash Photo Credit: Lucas Fabre
“Whatever you attempt to chase after will scurry away from you like a jackrabbit or squirrel, So what if you eased up a bit in pursuing the outer realizing that sweet honey nectar of what you are seeking is already nestled within you.”
Diamond-Michael Scott, The Chocolate Taoist
As someone who is constantly on the move, the 26th verse of the Tao Te Ching (Stephen Mitchell translation) has become a favorite of mine. It asserts:
The heavy is the root of the light. The unmoved is the source of all movement.
Thus the Master travels all day without leaving home.
However splendid the views, she stays serenely in herself.
Why should the lord of the country flit about like a fool?
If you let yourself be blown to and fro, you lose touch with your root. If you let restlessness move you, you lose touch with who you are.
A natural part of the Western world is to aspire for something. “Gotta have a goal,” we say. “Be a grinder.” “Push into it.” Bla, bla, bla, all in the spirit of getting to where we want to go as quickly as possible.
Honestly, I get it. Because it’s hard not to be intoxicated by all of the juicy delectables in the outer world that are shouting at us. Thus our attempts to break into the “pastry case” of success. Problem is, that yumminess might not be as delicious as you once thought upon taking a bite.
All of this then begs a question — what if the very thing you are chasing and aspiring for already lies within. I’m not talking about material things here like a house, car, or a life partner. Rather, the richer essence of life which is embodied by intangibles like peace, clarity, abundance, and freedom.
We’re talking about those places in our deeper essence where we’re able to enjoy the view and vibrate with the sweetness marinating inside of us. This requires having gratitude for what we have versus the soul wrenching desire to acquire more and more.
Maybe we can get to the point of hitting that “enough” button for stretches versus feeling that we’ve constantly gotta leap and chase what we perceive to be that next satisfactory thing.
As Francis Pring-Mill says in his delightful book “In Harmony with the Tao:”
“How is it that the Master is already aware of who she is? The answer is that when you dwell in harmony with the Tao, there is no need to travel anywhere else, because you’re aware you have already arrived. If we think of life being like a journey, then we might think of awareness as being the destination. This implies a gap between where we are and where we want to be, and a journey we have to undertake to close the gap.”
In other words, the gap between where we are and where we want to be is an illusion. Our minds have fooled us into believing that our destination is that proverbial “somewhere else.”
But the trouble here is that it’s the thinking that creates this gap. And the gap is an illusion. In reality, awareness is never a destination that is “somewhere else.”
In summary, to dwell in harmony with the Tao is to be in touch with who you are on the inside. I refer to this as the “Inner Game of Resilience,” which is the foundational theme of my upcoming book “The Way of the Chocolate Taoist.”
Pring-Mill brings all of this together best with the following:
“To be aware of this, there’s no need to move from where you are to anywhere else. In fact, you don’t need to move at all. Who you are is like a root. It’s right under your feet. Move anywhere else and you lose touch with it. If you want splendid views then look inside. The only country is yourself. The only journey to take lies within.”
