Better Than I Used to Be

I ain't no angel
I still got a few more dances with the devil
I’m cleaning up my act little by little
I’m getting there
I can finally stand the man in the mirror I see
I ain’t as good as I’m gonna get
But I’m better than I used to be

(Tim McGraw)

The problem that we spiritual travelers have is that we want to improve, very much as Tim McGraw envisions his journey in his song "Better than I used to be". We want to be "enlightened" but feel that we are not, so that means that we need to improve, right?
But hold on a second, if you want to disassociate yourself from the scoundrel called "ego", by setting up this self-improvement goal you are still very much under the ego's spell. That's what the ego does day in, day out; thinking and scheming how one could possibly advance. So it is the same struggle only wrapped in holy clothes this time around.

There is only one way to deal with this problem. Let go of the steering wheel. Let the Tao do the driving and you will find that everything is suddenly "better than it used to be". You encounter fewer problems, you experience Grace no matter where you look and where you go and you discover that you already have everything someone possibly could ask for. Actually, Tim McGraw can even aim higher in his already pretty uplifting song using this insight. Once you stumble upon the divine Now you realize that you already are as good as you gonna get - ever.

By Christian and Su Zhen