Chapter 2: Tao and Te

“Follow the Tao
And live in harmony.
Cultivate character (Te)
And develop your highest potential.
Te and Tao
Are the way of life.
Abandon either
And the Tao abandons you.” (Tao 23)

Cultivate character and develop your highest potential. This line sticks with me. I immediately feel what it means for me: stop questioning what is my highest potential and what to do with it or how to reach it; instead just be here now, cultivating character, strengthening foundation, and let all else flow naturally from there.

As I read about Te in this chapter, my eyes widen, and then my brow sort of furrows. How is it that all these years I never really knew what the “Te” of “Tao Te Ching” meant? As I read about what it is though, it turns out that I have been cultivating it and talk about it often, but without the label.

So what is Te? Te is virtue or character. Te is about living authentically, combining intuition and compassion. Dreher writes that “The Tao Te Ching is the path that leads straight from the heart.” (tao = path) (te = to go straight from the heart) (ching = sacred book)

This chapter is so rich that I could post a blog entry in response to every page or two.

According to Dreher, Te is about seeing clearly, self-acceptance, detachment, not trying but doing, thinking independently, expanding our self, faith in life, living here and now, and embracing life joyously....

Speaking of living here and now, I am currently half-way through a week-long Continuum Movement retreat and going into silence tomorrow. Part of me is dying to write about it, especially as I’m seeing more and more just how much Continuum and Taoism go hand in hand. Also, there was also a lot coming up today about the heart, so I was relating it back to the definition of te. I just might stay up now to write about that. But must not force it-- it’s funny how often I have to remind myself not to force things, but the more I do, the less I need to. So it’s working. I’m on my way. On the way. Straight from the heart.