The Floating Tao

Naked & smiling

Make every day your birthday and every night meet your spectacular demise Take liberties congratulating your own particular now magic This is that time when the fruit is ripe This is that time when the iron is hot Open to closeness with strangers and delight in awkward silences with the

Festival of likes

Like dislike what does it matter Past future where does the time go Light darkness what is the difference Life death why fear either Love hate how can you tell Self other what do I know (in the cosmic sense) savor every second

permission slips

let my heroes be permission slips backstage passes to passions that are ours and yours alone let my teachers be permission slips unchained lifetimes to try fail be foolish crazy arrive messy late unkempt desireless let these thieves inspire you to flee foment flake disintegrate dissolve inhabit primitive sincerity flawed

candle

once what hurt you twice will birth you say thank you for what is killing now will work itself out in your ultimate favor my dear behold rage turns to honey shrill pain to sweet nothings turn to powder like Time's porcelain hands look here the moon is desert look

Background Noise

If you get real quiet, if you listen real close to your body, your culture, there is a stubborn hum, a dull hiss, an icy static. At first it's annoying. A foreboding whirr. It comes out mostly when all else is silent. What is that? Some days it's louder. Usually

So...

What's next?  The Floating Tao is complete (enough). I don't know what I'm doing. I appreciate you reading along-- on this journey to I have no idea. I'm thinking I will start posting poems I made up lately, inspired by The Floating Tao and other stuff I've picked up in

Eighty-One

Lies are often beautiful. Truth may or may not be. Those who know don't have to be educated. The educated don't have to know. Most humans tend to worship only with their eyes, accumulating only things they can see. By reconnecting to the ears, the body, the taste, we integrate

Eighty

Envision a world where towns grow smaller and people fewer. Leftover tools from an anxious age are abandoned, left to rot in the weather and the wind. People trade wanderlust for the good ground underfoot. People begin to feel death's gravity again. In place of excessive mental chatter, people resort

Seventy-Nine

Little good comes of making peace if we hold grudges. Blame never ends as long as everyone is still privately pointing fingers. We're better off correcting our own mistakes. Be modest in making promises to yourself or others. Go easy on yourself. Learn patience and equanimity. Nature plays no favorites,

Seventy-Eight

Water is the softest and most yielding substance and nothing is better for overcoming the strong and solid. It has no equal. Everyone knows the soft overcomes the hard, yet no one puts it into practice. Therefore the wise ones see serenity where others see affliction. Evil cannot sway them

Seventy-seven

The old boy said the tao is like pulling on a bowstring: the top bends down, the bottom bends up, and the energy is focused in the middle. Tao takes energy from where it is and sends it to wherever it needs to be. Most people are not like that.

Seventy-Six

Living plants are green and flexible, the dead ones are dry and brittle. We are born gentle and yielding, in death we are rigid and stiff. The inflexible person is a disciple of death. Whoever is open to change is a disciple of life. To be vulnerable is to be

Seventy-Five

People lose faith when more, more, more becomes the mantra. This is not the way. Instead of losing faith, ask yourself: In what ways am I greedy? In what ways could I do more with less? In what ways do I contribute to the delusion around me? There is real

Seventy-Four

Nobody knows what to make of the roiling rivers of change all around us. People rely on their eyes to see what is happening, but their eyes are easily fooled. People are resisting change. Resisting death, resisting life. Let go of all opinions and open up to your own inevitable

Seventy-Three

The way flows like water; does what it does, goes where it goes, never hurries, yet always arrives on time. Who can understand how it works? The way has no aim, needs no aim, because the way and the target are one. The only thing one can say about the

Seventy-Two

When people lose their natural sense of wonder and awe, they begin to depend on external authority. When people no longer trust themselves, they can lose themselves in the shadowy appearances of things. Humans are born with a unique and reliable internal guidance system. We despair when we forget that

Seventy-One

Thinking one knows is the affliction. Knowing one doesn't know is to move again toward wholeness. The wise ones are no longer ill because they grow sick of sickness and weary of weariness. Aware of the roots of their ailments, they heal themselves. Attuned to stillness, awash in flawless silence,

Seventy

These words are easy to understand and even easier to put into practice, yet no one really believes them or understands them. Tao is older than the earth. How can you grasp tao's meaning? Ask the heart. In the gaps between breaths. In the gaps between sounds. In the gaps

Sixty-Nine

In conflict be cautious. Better to calmly observe in order to see what will happen next. Often, it is better to retreat a yard, than to advance an inch. This is called moving forward while standing still. Preparing for battle without revealing your strength. Capturing the enemy before attacking. Being

Sixty-Eight

The floating tao has taught me: when I don't know what to do it is often best to do nothing. Not doing, nothing is left undone. Not speaking, nothing is left unspoken. Not moving, nothing is left unmoved. Sometimes nothing is the most productive thing one can "do." This is

Sixty-Seven

Floating reminds us awe is an appropriate response to life. Floating reminds us we are intricately connected parts of something vast and wonderfully creative. More music than math. More dance than dogma. More heart than mind. At least half of a human is wild possibility, and whoever brings their wild

Sixty-Six

All streams and rivers flow to the sea because the sea lies beneath them. If I wish to teach people, I must serve them. If I wish to lead people, I must find out where they would like to go. In this way, one can lead from above without weighing

Sixty-Five

Those who befriend the invisible will not try to enlighten others, but simply uphold its mystery. People who know too much are impossible to reach. When people remember how to stop doing and just be they conserve their life force and can begin to find their own way. Leading by

Sixty-Four

The tallest tree begins as a tiny seed. A single step begins a journey of a thousand miles. The Taj Mahal started with one shovel of dirt. Rushing into action, one fumbles. Trying to hold on, one slips. Forcing a project to completion, one spoils what was almost ripe. The

Sixty-Three

Act without action; work without effort. Think of the small as large and the few as many. Repay injury with kindness. Tackle what's difficult while it's still easy; work on the big things while they are still small. The difficult things of the world begin easy. The big things of