![]() ![]() For example, a mother asks her daughter if she got into college. But obviously, instead of resolving it, he pushed the conflict off into the future, where it will grow in strength. After telling the lie, the liar believes he’s resolved the conflict in a quick and easy manner. So why does he continue to lie to himself?Ī lie is something that gives the illusion of resolving a conflict. And as he seeks to avoid conflict, he tells himself more lies, his delusions cut him off from more and more knowledge, and as a result, his mind becomes completely fixed and rigid. He protects himself from conflict, but he also cuts himself off from all knowledge that would have helped him overcome his awkwardness. He tells himself that society is full of losers not worth talking to. But if the man acknowledges his awkwardness, he knows he would be conflicted, so he protects himself from the conflict by constructing a delusion. For example, a man, because he’s awkward, has a few bad interactions with others. In other words, no more knowledge can enter the mind. Although the poison can’t enter the glass, no more water can either. ![]() The delusion is a self-isolating barrier. The mind wants so badly to protect itself from conflict that it constructs a delusion around itself by telling itself lies. The water represents the mind, the glass represents the delusion, and the poison represents conflict. Imagine a water-filled glass placed upside down on a table. Rigidity occurs when the mind creates a barrier that prevents it from receiving new information. But the water-like sage retains a mind that is formless, unbounded, and constantly learning, lacking rigidity and capable of responding to any situation. But as many children grow older, their minds tend to calcify, they become more rigid, and they stop learning. Nothing but potential lies in front of it, and it does nothing but learn all day. ![]() Its mind is still fresh, unjaded, and unconditioned by the world. A child is a great example of formlessness. So the water-like sage must be formless too, but what does it mean to be formless?Ī formless mind is capable of endless, expansive growth. It can become whatever it needs to suit the situation, in cold turning to ice, in heat to vapour. And because it’s formless, water is adaptable. I said that water could be described in many ways, but I think it has one, chief characteristic: it’s formless. In Taoism, this “best man” is referred to as a Sage, and by taking on the qualities of water, the Sage comes close to the Tao. And in one translation of the Tao Te Ching, in Chapter 8, Lao Tzu says, “the best of men is like water.” Water can give life, conform to any container, flow around any obstacle, erode mountains, destroy cities, cleanse, heal, travel to the lowest and highest spots, move effortlessly and efficiently, and transform into ice, water, or vapour depending on the circumstances. In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu compares the Tao to water. ![]()
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