The Tao of Resistance

Walking the Tao feels like you are connected to a stream of energy which guides you along the Way. Most of the time it is a wonderful feeling of connectedness, yet, there are doubtless times when you feel resistance. You want to go in a direction that makes a lot of sense to you, yet, there is a wall. What do you do then?

We talked the other day about the mental struggle that the spiritual community often has when they want to charge money for their services. Yet the constraints of making a living force you do deal with this issue. You may ask, "Lord, why do I have to deal with this?", but sooner or later it dawns on you that your money taboo is just a subconscious way of proving to yourself that you are somehow holier than all the others. Spiritual activities are not holier, daily life is not more sinful. The Tao will always let you know what is the best way to do it, just listen carefully and let go off your preconceived notions.

Another example, you may be at work building a large spreadsheet and suddenly the system crashes and all your work is lost. You take it well, rebuild everything from scratch only to find that it crashes again. Accept the resistance. Everything happens for a reason. Perhaps it is a good opportunity to step back and try a new approach. The Tao always only wants your best. Accept the change and try to figure out what the lesson from your struggle is.

You will also notice that as soon as you reposition yourself, peace and harmony penetrates you again. The peace and harmony is the “ok” signal the True Self is giving to you, while anxiety and struggles are the signals that you have deviated from the Tao already. Adjust accordingly until you reach the state when you will always walk the Tao.

The Tao is here to show you who you really are. Struggles show your false belief systems, inadequate norms that the society holds, or simply that the ego has hijacked your agenda again. A Tao is a highway to freedom. Just as there sometimes are curves along the way, you will find it beneficial to steer a little to the left and the right along your journey. Let the peace and harmony you feel inside be your internal guide and synchronicity your external milestone. Don't worry, your overall mission in life is well protected with all these changes - the Tao just wants you do reach your goal in the best way possible.

By Christian and Su Zhen