Sharing GOD's Secret

It was 2007, and I was on my way to the airport. On a long business trip to Europe or Asia, I always pick up a couple of books to while away some time on the plane. I found "A New Earth" by an author I had never heard of before. The title looked intriguing so I bought it. Later as I passed the security line I saw "The Power of Now" by the same author; it was then when it clicked; yes, I had heard of Eckhart Tolle, the new spiritual author on the block. It turns out the "A New Earth" was a symptom of my own awakening. Today, nine years later, I am one of the millions of initiated light-workers Eckhart Tolle had with his book in mind.

The irony was that when Eckhart Tolle submitted his first book, "The Power of Now", to a publisher it was rejected on the grounds that this idea is as old as spirituality itself. True, how nice that another publisher brought it on the market as it quickly lid a fire in the New Age community. So perhaps we should just remind each other from time to time of the ancient wisdoms that apparently have to be rediscovered by each individual spiritual traveler for herself. GOD's "secret"  has been out there for millennia, ready for everyone to discover it. "The Power of Now" is one catchy phrase, but there are so many others. The Old Testament is full of spiritual insights, as were Jesus' teachings. The Sufis know it, as does Taoism, Buddhists and Hinduism. 

The note below zooms into a little book that is a spiritual master piece, "To Have or to Be", by Erich Fromm. The author was foremost a psychologist, with a passion  for the Talmud, spirituality and socialism as well. Erich Fromm knew GOD's secret, just to fall in love with life; to do something with your life that is both purposeful and passionate; to learn to recognize the distracting whispers of the ego that keep you from the WAY. Erich Fromm also realized that magic tends to happen when we wrestle with life on a path that is of GOD. Lastly I would add that enlightenment is not something that you aspire to get one day; enlightenment is a state that you can enjoy moment by moment, as long as you use some of these insights below as your milestones. Everyone can be a light worker. Hope you join us too!

God's Secret - The Problem Statement

Problem Statement: Separateness 

Adam and Eve, what is the sin they have committed? To face each other as separated, isolated, selfish human beings who cannot overcome their separation in the act of loving union. The sin is rooted in our very human existence. Being deprived of the original harmony with nature. Being endowed with reason and self-awareness, we cannot help experiencing our separateness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Problem statement: Me, Myself and I

Our picture of physical reality does not correspond to what is "really real" and, mainly, in the sense that most people are half-awake, half-dreaming, and are unaware hat most of what they hold true and self-evident is illusion produced by the suggestive influence of the social world in which they live. Knowing , then, begins with the shattering of disillusionment. Knowing means to penetrate through the surface, in order to arrive at the roots, and hence the causes; knowing means to "see" reality in its nakedness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Mental greed - and all greed is mental, even when it is satisfied via the body - has no satiation point, since it's consummation does not fill the inner emptiness, boredom, loneliness, and depression it is meant to overcome. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Everything and anything can become an object of craving: things we use in daily life, property, rituals, good deeds, knowledge, and thoughts. While they are not in themselves "bad", they become bad; that is, when we hold onto them, when they become chains that interfere with our freedom, they block our self-realization. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

But if the greedy person thinks only of money and possessions, the ambitious one only of fame, one does not think of them as being insane, but simply annoying; generally one has contempt for them. But factually, greediness, ambition, and so forth are forms of insanity, although usually one does not think of them as illness. To be driven by irrational passions is to be mentally sick. To the degree that we achieve optimal growth, we are not only (relatively) free, strong, rational, and joyous, but also mentally healthy; to the degree that we fail to reach this aim, we are unfree, weak, lacking rationality, and depressed. (Erich Fromm quotes Spinoza in "To Have or to Be")

Problem Statement: Having, not Being

Greed is the natural outcome of the having orientation. It can be the greed of a miser or the greed of a profit hunter or the greed of a womanizer or the man chaser. Whatever constitutes their greed, the greedy can never have enough, can never be "satisfied". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

What is fully describable is our persona - the mask we each other wear, the ego we present - for this persona is in itself a thing. In contrast, the living human being is not a dead image and cannot be described like a thing. In fact, the living human being cannot be described at all. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

If I am what I have and if what I have is lost, who then am I? Nobody but a defeated, deflated, pathetic testimony to a wrong way of living. Because I can lose what I have, I am necessarily constantly worried that I shall lose what I have. I am afraid of thieves, of economic changes, of revolutions, of sickness, of death; and I am afraid of love, of freedom, of growth, of change, of the unknown. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The fear, then, is not of dying, but of losing what I have: the fear of losing my body, my ego, my possessions, and my identity; the fear of facing the abyss of non-identity, of "being lost". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

GOD's Secret - The Solution

The Solution:  At-One-Ment

There is but one way to save ourselves from this hell: to leave the prison of our egocentricity, to reach out and to one ourselves with the world. If egocentric separateness is the cardinal sin, then the sin is atoned in the act of loving: "at-one-ment" is Middle English for union. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Solution: Purpose and Passion

The joy of a mitzvah (the fulfillment of a religious duty) is he only way to get the Holy Spirit. (Erich Fromm, quoting the Talmud in "To Have or to Be")

In order to avoid decay, we must strive to approach the "model of human nature", that is, we must be optimally free, rational, active. We must become what we can be. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Joy is what we experience in the process of growing nearer to the goal of becoming ourselves. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Activity is "wholesome" only when it is rooted in and expresses the ultimate ethical and spiritual demands.  (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Only in the process of mutual alive relatedness can the other and I overcome the barrier of separateness, inasmuch as we both participate in the dance of life.  (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

In non-alienated activity, I experience myself as the subject of my activity. Non-alienated activity is a process of giving birth to something, or producing something and remaining related to what I produce. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Solution: The Holy Now

The active, alive man is like a "vessel" that grows as it is filled and will never be full. 

(Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Freedom in the sense of being unfettered, free from craving for holding onto things and one's ego, is the condition for love and productive being. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The mode of being exists only in the here and now. The mode of having so exists only in time: past, present and future. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Knowledge is no particular thought but rather it peels off (all coverings) and is disinterested and runs naked to GOD, until it teaches HIM and grasps HIM. (Meister Eckhart in Erich From, To Have or to Be) 

The Solution: Being, not Having

One of the main themes of the Old Testament is: leave what you have; free yourself from all fetters; be! (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal, but lay for yourselves treasures in Heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

There exists only the act of loving. To love is a productive activity. It implies caring for, knowing, responding, affirming, enjoying: the person, the tree, the painting the idea. It means bringing to life, increasing his/her/its aliveness. It is a process, self-renewing and self-increasing. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

They respond spontaneously and productively; they forget about themselves, about the knowledge, the positions they have. Their egos do not stand in their own way, and it is precisely for this reason that they can fully respond to the other person and that person's ideas, because they are not holding onto anything. While the having persons rely on what they have, the being persons rely on the fact that they are, that they are alive and that something new will be born if only they have to courage to let go and respond. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

To the extent that we decrease the mode of having, that is of non-being - i.e., stop finding security and identity by clinging to what we have, by "sitting on it", by holding onto ego and our possessions - can the mode of being emerge. "To be" requires giving up one's egocentricity and selfishness, or in words often used by mystics, by making oneself "empty" and "poor". (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

While having is based on some thing that is diminished by use, being grows by practice. The 'burning bush" that is not consumed is the biblical symbol for this paradox. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

We human beings have an inherent and deeply rooted desire to be: to express our faculties, to be active, to be related to others, to escape the prison cell of selfishness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Every new step contains the danger of failure, and that is one of the reasons people are so afraid of freedom. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Master Eckhart taught that to have nothing and make oneself open and "empty", not to let one's ego stand in one's way, is the condition for achieving spiritual wealth and strength. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

We should not be "filled" with our knowledge, or hang onto it, or crave it. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

Living structures can be only if they become; they can exist only if they change. Change and growth are inherent qualities of the life process. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

The Buddha, the Awakened One, calls on people to wake up and liberate themselves from the illusion that craving for things lead to happiness. (Erich Fromm, To Have or to Be)

GOD's Secret - Conclusions

What may appear to you as a tour de force was just a little book full of ancient wisdom by a wise man, Erich Fromm. Every single line in it - very quote cited here - can lift you to that state, just as the simple title "The Power of Now" tried accomplishing a few decades later. Having this insight is huge, but living it is priceless. And that is where GOD's mission comes in. Find this path, hold HER HAND every step of the WAY and you are enlightened. If this all sounds all a bit overwhelming right now, why don't you start with a mission statement, to be one of us. GOD will do the rest. Of you only one thing is required, do your best every step of the WAY, and share GOD's Secret with others.

Happy "At-One-Ment" - Happy Easter!

The consciousness in you and the consciousness in me, apparently two, is really one, seek unity and that is love.

Nisargadatta Maharaj

All the talk of religion and spirituality is wasted in the end if we can't experience ONENESS ourselves. In the olden days, before the Fall, we experienced ONENESS every step of the WAY. There was only one VOICE in our head, and only one FEELING in our heart, and that was of GOD. When we ate from the Tree of Knowledge, a second voice popped into our head, and new feelings arose that deviated from the world GOD had created for us. We experienced this world as a new-comer; an external spectator of the Universe whose mission it was to find back that ONENESS that was once our own.

You may ask how exactly we can we embrace this ONENESS. The WAY of the East is observation: Lao-Tzu's Tao Te Ching observes the TIMELESS, the INFINITE, the DIVINE in people and in all daily events. Along the WAY, you experience ONENESS, and like a scientist, Lao-Tzu invites you to discover this ONENESS for yourself. Buddhists famously claim, "If you see the Buddha, kill him." That's the scientific mindset at work, no path is accepted unless the traveler makes it her own. 

Christianity - the Western road to GOD - wants to initiate ONENESS. Compared to the scientific mindset of the East, Christianity is a religion instead. The seeker appeals to the Son of Man, to the Holy Spirit, and to GOD to show her the WAY. The process of "At-One-Ment" is a blessing of HEAVEN. It is the alchemy that takes place when two or more people of the right intention come together; it is the divine symbol that GOD places next to us, ready to be discovered with a loving heart and a right-minded perspective. It is a blessing always at our disposal as long as we do our job to remove all the distractions and the debris in our WAY.

They say many roads lead to Rome. I consider myself part scientist, part believer and am ready to take any turn - the well-traveled journey as well as the virgin path - to return HOME. The Tao Te Ching can be observed and studied like a scientist, but the symbols you find there - and religiously hold on to - are the messages of GOD. I love the quote from the Hindu Nisargadatta Maharaj who neatly sums up the message of the Christ: Love is the uniting principle. Happy "At-One-Ment" - Happy Easter!

Do We have a Choice?

Heaven and earth are impartial;

they see the universe as a straw dog.

The sage is non-judgmental,

she treats all her people like straw dogs.

The sage is like Heaven and earth;

to her none are especially dear;

nor is there anyone she disfavors.

She gives and gives without condition,

offering her treasures to everyone.

(Tao Te Ching)

I can only laugh when we rational folks come up with some objective reasons why we choose or quit an occupation; or even more absurd, the reasons why we supposedly fall in love, or out of it. The world is not what it seems to be. We feel our way through life and make up rational reasons later to rationalize what we have done in the first place. A force beyond our comprehension pushes our buttons and we sway with it like puppets in a marionette theater. 

Just watch for yourself how you are carried along by forces that appear random when you have reached an important cross-road: the crucial job interview when everyone appears all smiles and when the sun shines brightly. The third date with a lover when miraculously the birds are chirping and the butterflies are dancing in the air. Scents; the weather; the looks of hair, bodies, and faces; the moods people are in; meaningful symbols that pop up just when they matter the most. What appears random to the scientific mind is meaningful synchronicity for the spiritual traveler. We are not in charge, She is!

Every job, every relationship, every success, illness, or meaningful event is designed to help us live out our karma. But we don't need to be helpless puppets, or straw dogs as Lao-Tzu called them; we can wake up within the movie production; we can become its executive producer, scriptwriter and main character all in one go. Life is here to help us cut our subconscious karmic bonds. We can connect to the Tao, and get lifted up to the the next spiritual level, holding on to Her Hand every step of the Way. It is ok if our personal agenda got us to this point, as long as we wake up today and start the true mission we have been sent on. 

Perhaps some ties need to be cut when we wake up because they were stitched together by careless or even evil intentions. Perhaps we have to double our efforts to heal some ailing relationships. But mostly awakening is just about letting go. It is about realizing that love - or the cry for it - is behind everything. Bless everyone and everything that got you up to this point. Everything has been carefully planned to make awakening possible here and now. Past karma has been used up, and we have been shaken sufficiently to embrace our holy mission and return Home.

How it all Started

Whenever two or more gather in My Name, there I Am among them.
(Matthew 18:20; my edits)


I met Su Zhen in a spiritual discussion forum, the Personal Development for Smart People, which soon afterwards shut down because of some internal quarrels of the group owners. That was a bummer - it was a thriving community which had been in operation for five years, and  some of these participants were spiritually quite advanced. To see this all fall apart seemed like a waste. And even though I knew very little of Su Zhen who literally lived on the other side of the planet, I -  very much to my own surprise - said, "Well, that must mean that you and I now need to build a community of our own", as if that was the most natural thing in the world. "Sure", she replied, and at this moment our book was born (The Dance of the Tao, forthcoming).

In some way we couldn't have been any different. Su Zhen grew up in Taiwan but lived in Hong Kong at the time when we met. She represents Asia while I represent the West; born in Germany, but having lived half of my life in the US. I still pride myself that I introduced Su Zhen to Taoism, the ancient spiritual wisdom of China. This was around the time when I had just finished my first book, "The Magnificent Experiment - The Magic of Connecting with Your Tao". Su Zhen immediately opened up to this Force and soon connected with many mystic events herself. In fact, we discovered that we were connected by an invisible threat even though we were in a time zone 12 hours apart.

This Force - call it Tao, the Self or the Holy Spirit - is wherever likeminded people are.  Matthew (18:20) is coming to mind, "Wherever two or more are gathered in my name, there I am in the midst of them." Spirituality is not something you need to read in books. You don't need to search for enlightened Masters. You can discover the Tao just as we have along the way and hopefully our book can give you some inspiration to connect with this Force.

The Tao works in mysterious ways and once you are connected you will see for yourself that the Way is always just around the corner, ready to rush to your side. When we  started out writing this book I was living in Boston, Massachusetts, 7966 miles away from Su Zhen's Hong Kong. Soon afterwards Su Zhen's husband got transferred to Boston, MA and we had the pleasure living next to each other for a year which enabled us to write this book .That is how the Tao works, once you are a spiritual traveler, life really does become a fairy tale. We hope that our journey gives you some inspiration to live your own.

What's Your Way?

Jesus saw the Self in his brother and discovered that as he healed his sister, he in fact healed himself.

Buddha discovered restlessness, falsehood and fear in himself, so he sat down and meditated until all that disappeared in the everlasting sound of Om.

Lao-Tzu saw the ups and downs of life and realized that all these oscillations took place around a perfectly visible Way. "Connect with the Way, and be free!", he passed on to us.

Lord Krishna appeared to Arjun on the biggest battle-field in the history of man and advised him to follow the calling of his soul. "Do your job Arjun, and be free!" is the wisdom of the Blue Lord.

You can try to follow established religions. You can dabble a little here and there. But in the end you may have to find your Way instead to trail a new path for the rest of us. What is your Way?

My Job

There is great happiness in not wanting, in not being something, in not going somewhere.

(Jiddu Krishnamurti)

How do you feel about yourself?  Do you measure your worth by how successful or how pretty you are; how much money you make, or how your talent is rated by the global economy these days? For quite a long time now, I couldn’t value or appreciate myself. I don’t feel like working in a company or an organization of any sorts. From an economic perspective, I don’t hold much value.  I don’t make any money and I don't seem to have much prospects of changing that any time soon.

I enjoy writing; I have an eye for beauty; I practice meditation; I love music and writing poems.  However, by today's economic standards all these talents are not worth that much. So for a long time I thought that the only way to prove that I am worth a spot in this world is that I need to be good at working, making money, good at house work, and good at parenting. I worked so hard to prove myself and made myself busy and anxious in the process.  I increasingly became frustrated. No matter how hard I worked, nothing of this was really me. I lost my glamor and joy.

One morning, a realization came to me.  By achieving nothing, I actually achieve a lot! I don’t earn any money by meditation, writing, or walking in the nature.  However, by allowing myself to do all these things I enjoy, I am able to bring joy, peace, love, and beauty to the people and environment around me.  Without having a goal, I am able to have time and space to be there for any one who needs me; without having to work like anyone else, I have time to create and write the pieces which inspires me and share with you.  By doing all these things, I am joyful, peaceful and loving. I am happy!

Just like the empty space you see in any painting, or silence in between the music, they seem useless and don’t express anything at all. However, without these empty space and silence, these painting and music master piece would be worthless. What would happen if there were no people devote their time for music, painting, meditation, or any forms of arts?  We would lose our soul with it. Contemplating all of this, Verse 11 of the Tao Te Ching came to mind.

We join spokes together in a wheel,

but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,

but it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,

but it is the inner space that makes it livable.

We work with being,

but non-being is what we use.

Christian is an economist and he tells me that we are moving into a new phase of globalization - The Creative Age - that is finally willing to assign new value to whatever it is that makes us human. What he cannot tell me though, is whether it takes a decade or a hundred years to realign these priorities. Meanwhile though, I am happy to specialize in Lao-Tzu's non-being as I have realized that the Tao rewards me amply for performing my role in society.

By Su Zhen

Everything is Being Taken Care Of

The Tao is like a well: used but never used up.

The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible.

I am different from ordinary people. I drink from the Great Mother's breasts.

(Tao Te Ching)

There once was a baby that was breastfed for seven years. When the baby had grown into a big sturdy boy, his mother told him to go up to the mountains and see whether he could withstand the mountain storms. He tried his best, but after a few seconds a strong breeze swept him off his feet.

He went back to his mom and she breast-fed him for another seven years. And when he was a sturdy teenager his mother asked him to go up the mountains to test the winds one more time. A storm was howling furiously and the teenager tried his best to keep his balance. He had his legs stamped into the ground, but after ten minutes his tired legs gave into the pressure and he fell to the ground yet again.

He returned to his mom and she breast-fed him for another seven years. When he had grown into a strong and handsome man he went up to the mountain and only laughed at the mountain winds. He became a soldier and destroyed whole armies with his strength, sturdiness and apparent invincibility. You don't have to strive and you don't have to fear. The only thing you have to do is to let Mother Nature - the Tao - nourish you. So-called setbacks are nothing but divine interventions to launch you on a higher path. Maintain your connection with the Tao and everything is being taken care of. 

The Tao Knows Best

The Tao doesn't take sides,

It gives birth to both good and evil.

The Master doesn't take sides;

She welcomes both saints and sinners.

(Tao Te Ching)

Socrates was more than the philosopher that the European Renaissance wanted to see in him. He was a mystic as well. He had an inner Voice - a daemon as he called Him - that could be quite mischievous at times. I recall one story were he went up a hill to a festival with friends but when he heard his Voice telling him to turn around, he promptly did. Later he learned why that was a good decision after all; his travel companions were suddenly surrounded by pigs and many of his friends found themselves covered with mud and had to go home as well. Socrates could have warned the others like every good Christian would, but his Voice didn't tell him that. The Tao is beyond good and evil.

I have discovered a very similar feedback from the Tao. Don't get me wrong, we spiritual travelers are here to heal and unite and not to cause mischief. Yet if someone crosses our path in a hurry there is simply nothing we can do to stop him. Yes, we warn and we advise, but if the resistance on the other side is too strong the Tao will always tell us to step aside. After all, a little mud along the way can be a good eye-opener too. The Tao always knows best.

Reflections on God's Number

I remember once saying to someone - this must have been just at the beginning of my spiritual journey - that the number 4 was evil. My insight had little to do with numerology, i.e. the knowledge that the number we are all so afraid of, 13, adds in fact up to 4 in numerology. I also knew nothing of the Chinese linguistic fact that 4 rhymes with death. No, it was based on an observation that negative market and economic shocks appeared to be coming in four year intervals.

As I said, this was a while ago, today I would say instead that four is in fact God's numbers. How do I get there? Well, something is missing in the Holy Trinity. We revere the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, but we do it with the perspective of an outsider. The sonship is part of us. God is complete if we join the holy union. Four equals three plus one! Yet, we have not yet managed to join the union so we are afraid of what we don't understand.

Often we are afraid of God's "wrath" just because we don't understand the Force that operates in a higher dimension than we do. This was not always the case and other societies don't have our psychological hang-ups. The Indian's for example value Durga - our Holy Mother's benevolent face - as much as Kali - our Holy Mother's occasional fury. The Holy Mother knows best, the reverent Hindu would say. "Inshallah" - as God wills it - the reverent Muslim would add. As many of you know, I am a Taoist, so here would be my spin.

You could write the number 4 in numerology as 123 and 7. One Two Three is a clear symbol of an uptrend. We say this is easy as one two three. Seven in contrast is the symbol of completion. So the fear is that the number 4 will in fact bring the end of the good period. We Tao travelers are not afraid of change, we welcome it. The creator in us see the end of an uptrend as an invite to start an even more powerful uptrend. And even if we are about to enter a contraction phase, the Tao will make this period of decay meaningful to us.  We embrace everything life brings our Way, even the most feared transition of them all - our own death. Lao-Tzu writes in the Tao Te Ching, "and if death finally comes, the Master will be ready."

Open Your Heart and Open Your Mind

The Master doesn't seek fulfillment.

Not seeking, not expecting,

She is present and can welcome all things.

(Tao Te Ching)

There is a time to be enthusiastic and there is a time to be depressed. There is a time for rain and a time for sunshine. There is a time for birth, a time for death, a time for decay and a time for renaissance. There is a time for being quick and there is a time for being slow. There is a time for activity and there is a time for resting. At every point in time, be true to yourself and true to the moment. 

All the struggle that you experience comes from the fact that you resist what is. How would you feel if someone wise told you that by tomorrow you will finally realize that things are going your way? Wouldn't you already today rejoice despite your hard labor and the pain? Open your mind and your heart to the moment and things will turn out to be just as they should. If you don't seek, and if you don't expect, you can welcome all things.

There is a time for being ahead,

a time for being behind;

a time for being in motion,

a time for being at rest;

a time for being vigorous,

a time for being exhausted;

a time for being safe,

a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,

without trying to control them.

She lets them go their own way,

and resides at the center of the circle.

(Tao Te Ching)

On Transcending Duality

There is duality in everything. When you are in awe of the Madonna you may also have a morbid fascination with the whore. When you are in search of the hero, monsters of your own making will have to to pop up. When you identify yourself with a country, a religion or a political party, "enemies" will have to be guarded against.

All that is the logical conclusion of duality. It is essentially a product of your own mind. When you read the Tao Te Ching you would at times conclude that it has been written by a scientist. The duality of life is explained by a distant observer who stands outside, not to be touched by life's ongoing fluctuation of yin and yang.

Yet on many occasions Lao-Tzu reports a Force, a Holy Mother, an eternal Source, that somehow seems to be present behind all the duality. The question is, how to get to this Force without being caught in the castles of our creative mind. The answer to that problem is observation: you can see and experience this Force behind everything. Don't presume you know how this Force speaks to you - just keep your eyes open. You stand with both feet planted in life and you literally see what is coming your way.

Do you know the psychological trick that you can either see a duck or a rabbit on a specially designed picture? Same with viewing either a chalice or an old woman. Actually, the trick only works a few times for when you have seen this trick often enough, you in fact can see simultaneously both images. This is also the spiritual break-through Lao-Tzu reported many thousand years ago in the Tao Te Ching when he suddenly saw a Force shining through all the duality. This is the moment of awakening when you suddenly "see" that you have a choice. Yes, you can step outside of the ego versus God duality: when ego and love can perceived at the same time, the choice is a simple one.

So it turns out that you can encounter God with a scientific mindset. As you transcend the duality of our mind you are not left with "nothingness". You discover instead an incredibly creative and loving Force. We encourage you to plunge right in.

The Journey to the Core

You have probably heard the spiritual message before that the Kingdom of God is within you. We can only tell you that it is true. You probably have seen glimpses of what lies beyond, yet you still spend your time alternating between the two worlds. Don't worry, it will come to you as long as you are willing to cut out all interferences to the best of your abilities. Just as the Bible claims, "First you have to seek His Kingdom, and then everything else will be given to you.

The Tao Te Ching tries to explain the blessings, the joy and the incredible peace of mind that you encounter as you travel the Way. It is as if the external world synchronizes with your internal world as you operate at the Core of your being. All the confusion that you once experienced disappears. You now realize that you used to run after the gold on the horizon while trampling on the diamonds that are right in front of you.

Take parenting as one example. If you raise children like us you will probably know how easy it is to get lost in anxieties, worries and expectations; It probably dawns on you as well that your children are just like you and are bound to repeat the movie you are living through. Yet, once you connect with the Giant within, how easy will be the journey for them. Everything falls into place once you connect with your Core.

Along the Way all your thoughts and emotions will be in perfect harmony with the environment you are operating in. People, events, your dreams as well as some disappointments all line up perfectly with what is going on inside of you. Once you see everyone and everything as an extension of you, how easy it is to give everyone their due. Surrounded by friends and soul siblings there will be plenty of laughter, joy and gratitude.

When you read this note the journey to the Core has likely already started for you. Join us along the Way and please bring a friend along.

By Christian and Su Zhen

The Elephant in the Room

Once upon a time, there lived six blind men in a village. One day the villagers told them, "Hey, there is an elephant in the village today."

They had no idea what an elephant is. They decided, "Even though we would not be able to see it, let us go and feel it anyway." All of them went where the elephant was. Everyone of them touched the elephant.

"Hey, the elephant is a pillar," said the first man who touched his leg.

"Oh, no! it is like a rope," said the second man who touched the tail.

"Oh, no! it is like a thick branch of a tree," said the third man who touched the trunk of the elephant.

"It is like a big hand fan" said the fourth man who touched the ear of the elephant.

"It is like a huge wall," said the fifth man who touched the belly of the elephant.

"It is like a solid pipe," Said the sixth man who touched the tusk of the elephant.

They began to argue about the elephant and everyone of them insisted that he was right. It looked like they were getting agitated. A wise man was passing by and he saw this. He stopped and asked them, "What is the matter?" They said, "We cannot agree to what the elephant is like." Each one of them told what he thought the elephant was like. The wise man calmly explained to them, "All of you are right. The reason every one of you is telling it differently because each one of you touched the different part of the elephant. So, actually the elephant has all those features what you all said."

"Oh!" everyone said. There was no more fight. They felt happy that they were all right.
 (Hindu Wisdom)

Freud had astute observations about himself and his patients, yet he was one of the blind men that told us about the elephant. Freud discovered the ego and analyzed it for us. He was bold enough to talk about sex in an utterly sexually repressed society, yet he was not bold enough to talk about the Spirit. Erich Fromm once described one of Freud's dreams where Freud experienced love as a dried up - dead - rose. Yes, Freud analyzed life with an razor-sharp intellect; unfortunately sometimes life bleeds to death during this operation.

Freud made the subconscious a household name, but it was Jung who made us realize the elephant in the room. Not only did he help us understand the incredible wisdom and power that is hidden deep inside of us, but he was also willing - buried by lots of intellectual blah - to admit the presence of the Self. We have passed a century since this discussion started and have added plenty of insights from the New Age movement. Today we know of the elephant in the room. Yet everyone will have to see and feel all parts to really know all about it. That is exactly what a spiritual journey will do for you.

For many of us the path is a journey through all four quadrants: intellect, ego, subconscious, and Spirit. We tend to know the New Age "ego - True Self" debate pretty well, but unfortunately it is just that, a debate. You have to experience your ego dissolve in the presence of the Self for yourself. This is your spiritual mission. You have to feel it, breathe it, struggle for it, and come to appreciate it. Eventually the "I" transcends into "I Am". This may happen in front of the burning bush, may happen after falling in a deep depression, or might happen on a trip to the local grocery store. Until then, monitor the workings of the "I", see how your state of mind interacts with the environment you are operating in, and do whatever you can to also be in touch with your Spirit. For many this connection happens as they pray or meditate; some discover the Self in others, very much like the Chinese sage Lao-Tzu did when he described "The Way".

The Bhagavad Gita is an intellect driven spiritual journey. Lord Krishna tells Arjun on the battle field that you can cut through the distortions of the ego. The goal of the spiritual warrior is find out the demands of the Way - your personal dharma as the Hindus call it - and just do it, whether you like it or not. The Gita was written for Gods. If you go down that path make sure you listen to the voice in your head as much as you listen to the wisdom of  your subconscious. Women and children have a better access to this Voice then men do.

Imagine an iceberg with the ego and the intellect above the water line. Spirit and the subconscious would be the giant mass below it. There are angels and demons hidden there, archetypes as well as fears and monsters. Freud's optimism that we can catapult many of these forces into our conscious mind was justified. Yet he wanted to squeeze these insights through the male intellect while the true reality is so much bigger than that. Woman and man have to merge, child and adult have to walk together, intellect and subconscious have to be in harmony, within and without have to be on the same page, and the ego has to be guided by the a Self. This is a giant task but you have a life-time to work on it and you have so many friends and angels cheering you on.

We invite you to join our journey towards wholeness. Nothing is sacred while everything is sacred; we feel and understand at the same time ; we discover every external occurrence in perfect harmony with our internal state of mind, and we see every sister as a mirror image of ourself. Discover that we are God together with us. It is a Herculean task but it is a lot of fun too. There is a unifying force linking intellect, ego, Spirit and the subconscious: love. You can love the intellect that Lord Krishna gave us, you can be proud of the "I" that has already traveled so far and just needs one more step on the homecoming journey. You can love the Spirit that prevails in everything and you can love the innocence, purity and strength of the child, woman and hero within, just as you can appreciate the incredible energy reservoir of the demon. Discover the wholeness inside. It is as plain as the elephant in the room.


                                         Intellect



Ego                                     Love                          Spirit



                                      Subconscious

Ripping Off a Band-Aid

When you realize where you come from,
you naturally become tolerant,
disinterested, amused,
kind-hearted as a grand- mother,
dignified as a king.
Immersed in the wonder of the Tao,
you can deal with whatever life brings you,
and when death comes, you are ready.
(Tao Te Ching)

Su- Zhen and I are about to write a book together so I thought I could put together a little collection of quotes from the Tao. As I put different verses on paper I observed that I consciously left out all the ones that talk about death. I convinced myself that this is just because I have little to say about death given that I obviously haven't experienced it, but I also observed a feeling of fear. Death is something many of us just want to avoid.

I see a problem with spiritual writing. We always tell you the good stuff, the things you will see and experience when you are "there", but we tell you much less about how the transition to that state may feel like it. Some transitions are beautiful. You walk in a winter forest, you see the stars shining through and you suddenly have a vision of a Christmas tree. The sky opens up and it really seems like angels are singing. This is a Satori moment, a revelation of Heaven on earth  pretty much out of the blue. But then there is the other way, a realization of the beyond after an intense period of struggle. Eckhart Tolle described it in The Power of Now when he said that after a deep depression period he suddenly felt as if a veil had been lifted.

The spiritual community will tell you that struggle is always yours, while Heaven on earth is always of God. This is true but may not be so helpful. When you feel intense pain, reposition yourself because you must be overlooking something. God doesn't want you to struggle. There is another way out there; yet, also accept the fact that you are experiencing intense pain at the moment. Please don't sweep it under the carpet - it is there. Perhaps the analogy could be if we say - just as a nurse would tell a little boy - "Now that will hurt a little, but if you bear with me, you will see that everything is just fine", and takes off the band-aid in one go.

Going back to my earlier observation of death, of course we know what it feels like. If you truly open up to life you can experience the "I"dying so often. I will not tell you that it is a pleasant experience, but I can tell you that you have a choice in getting it done with without prolonging the pain. Spirituality is the art of seeing yourself outside of the "I" perspective and from that dimension death has a very different feel to it.

The Master is Serene in the Midst of Sorrow

Failure is an opportunity.
If you blame someone else;
there is no end to blame.

Therefore the Master
fulfills her own obligations
and corrects her own mistakes.
She does what she needs to do
and demands nothing of others.
(Tao Te Ching)

An important lesson plan of life is to take ownership for everything we are going through. Experience all emotions whole-heartedly, stop looking for comfort from others and for solutions from the outside. Stop drowning the void you are feeling deep inside with pleasures rides and stop blaming others about what comes your way. When we are willing to look inside we are sure to find a fountain of energy, a pillar of strength, and for the first time we have a shot at understanding what is truly happening to us.

All your heartbreak, all your hurt and all your wounds are really not new.  They are just old injuries coming back to the surface. Think back and try to remind yourself of similar patterns in the past. There is only one way to stop this pain, face it wholeheartedly this time around. The pain you are facing today is a perfect opportunity to look at yourself deep inside. As you are willing to do that, and as you are bold enough to face the burdens of the past, healing will surely come your way. Get it done with, for once and for all. But if you are too scared to look at the demons inside, the pain and suffering is sure to come back.

What applies to us must apply to others as well. Let other people deal with their own fate. Just like we gained strength by facing our demons, let them conquer theirs by going deep inside themselves.

The Master remains serene
In the midst of sorrow.
Evil cannot enter her heart.
Because she has given up helping
she is people's greatest help.
(Tao Te Ching)

We all need to walk through this dark valley alone to realize that we have the inner strength to face everything that comes our way. Every emotional turbulence faced with courage and resolve can be transformed into joy and love. Be brave!  When you are ready to be healed, all the help is coming your way!

By Christian and Su Zhen

There is a Time for Being Ahead ...

There is a time for being ahead,
a time for being behind;
a time for being in motion,
a time for being at rest;
a time for being vigorous,
a time for being exhausted;
a time for being safe,
a time for being in danger.

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
(Tao Te Ching)

That is indeed how our daily life looks like. Whenever we are on top of a mountain, it is time to go down. Whenever we are down in the valley, without even realizing it, we are going up again as driven by a subconscious force. Up and down we wander in life whether we like it or not.  Whenever we think about our journey and whenever we get caught in negative emotions, the valley and the climb will be hard to accept.

Vivekanada once travelled with an old monk who looked up to the destination, a mountain in the distance, and exclaimed, "It is too far, I can't reach it." Vivekananda told him to look at his feet instead and just take one step at a time. The old monk reached the mountain just fine. That is the Way. Accept everything that life throws at you, be one with it, and see that no matter what, there will be peace and love wherever you are.

 By Christian and Su Zhen

The Second Coming

Music or the smell of good cooking
may make people stop and enjoy.
But words that point to the Tao
seem monotonous and without flavor.
When you look for it, there is nothing to see.
When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.
When you use it, it is inexhaustible.
(Tao Te Ching)

Try to squeeze the yin out of the union of yin and yang and you will violate the divine balance.Try to squeeze the human element out of the union of humanity and divinity and a wolf will scratch at your door. Yet, yin has moments when her essence is captured by yang energy, just as it is possible to experience divinity when you are here on earth. Taoism is the ability to perceive divinity in the holy Now. You do not negate who you are, yet you  merge with a higher dimension just by being open and by being present.

We are all so tired of the clash of religious styles, the way of the Buddha versus the way of Mohamed, Moses or the Christ. The Second Coming is the celebration of your Way. You don't need to make a jump of faith, all you need to do is to open your eyes. The Tao is as apparent as a red thread stretching out before you. Most people can't see it because they are too distracted by the gold that glitters on the horizon. Keep an eye on the holy Now -  it is staring right into your face. As you do, the Second Coming is completed.

On Healing the World

What is a good man but a bad man's teacher?
What is a bad man but a good man's job?

Accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your Self.

Do you want to improve the world?
I don't think it can be done.

The world is sacred.
It can't be improved.
If you temper with it, you'll ruin it.
If you treat it like an object, you'll lose it.
(Tao Te Ching)

Can we really say who heals whom? Who exactly is "bad" and who is "good"? The only thing that matters is that there is a loving interaction of two friends. Wherever there is love there is natural healing. The bible says, "wherever two or more are gathered in My name, there I will be." It is the mind set that matters as you approach a person or a situation. Meet someone with an open mind and a loving heart and a miracle is bound to happen. Approach someone with an attitude of superiority and the environment will be tainted. A Tao traveler is down to earth not because he is special in any way, and not because he is a saint, but because he has seen the truth of the Way: On planet earth there is no up and down, no here and there, no me and you. Along the Way there is only another priceless opportunity to receive love, healing and a glimpse of our Self.

Equanimity of Mind

The Master sees things as they are,
without trying to control them.
She lets them go their own way,
and resides at the center of the circle.
(Tao Te Ching)

It probably has happened to you that you are talking to a colleague about a project and suddenly you feel her resistance. You stay polite, you pretend as if everything is just perfect, but beneath the image of calmness you are exerting enormous amounts of energy to hold your ground. And after this encounter you feel so exhausted that you go home to get a good night's sleep. But then the opposite happens too. Unexpectedly, things are going your way and everyone is convinced that you are it. You are happy, but you have to work almost as hard as in the example before not be driven to irrational exuberance by the cheering crowd.

The first example probably makes sense to you. You know who you are, so why would you let a nay-sayer get to you, right? But then, you might have a hard time resonating with the second case.  You know how good you are, so why not let others celebrate you a little? Our point isn't that you should be emotionless along the Way, our point is that once you have connected with the Tao you will naturally stay close to the center, ready to welcome the yin and yang of life, completely unfazed by the criticism and the projections of others.

Find out for yourself that along the Tao every event vanishes just as a cloud would in the wind. I met the colleague who gave me a hard time on my recent Japan trip and she was all smiles instead as if the previous run-in never existed. Similarly, moments of success and compliments are always followed by the next day when a new project with uncertain outcomes presents itself. Try to discover the Way in your life - your mind's sanity depends on it.

The Tao of Darkness and Light

The Tao doesn't take sides;
It gives birth to both good and evil.
The Master doesn't take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
(Tao Te Ching)

How would you feel when someone implies that you are not attractive? What if you "accidentally" upset someone who is important to you? Or what if someone you love suddenly falls really sick? What if you have to deal with someone who is mean?

Walking the Tao does not shelter you from the yin and yang of life. Darkness and light necessitate each other. Often your spiritual journey starts in earnest because you can't take it anymore, because you are tired of running into a wall and you scream at the world and God "why me?", and for the first time that you can remember someone actually answers.

Walking the Tao is a journey of healing. The light shines away the darkness over time,  fear is being replaced by peace, a foul mood turns into joy and laughter. When you read about the Tao you are likely to hear so much about the good stuff, the joys along the Way, the miracles, the synchronicity. Yet, a little darkness has to be part of the Way as well.

 After we walk our spiritual path for a while, we unload most of the accumulated pain, we experience joy, happiness, love, goodness, beauty and light wherever we turn. In fact, we can become addicted to that feeling. So one day we will naturally realize that this good stuff is another kind of limitation as well. While we are on earth, Heaven on earth will have to be an utopia.  This notion would reject suffering which is part of life. By portraying us as magician we would put ourselves above others which is simply not the case. We are all one.

With the realization that the yin and yang is part of life we manage to open ourselves up. We welcome everything, good and bad, with equanimity. We become vulnerable. No one expects you to suffer; no one wants you to be weak in the presence of evil, but please show respect and love for everything that She brings your Way. By being open to good and evil you become a true master.  We suddenly let go of the notion of how things should be and we walk the Tao whole-heartedly, only to find that everything is perfect as is.

By Christian and Su Zhen