Returning to the Root
The Teaching
Empty your mind of all thoughts. Let your heart be at peace. Watch the turmoil of beings, but contemplate their return. Each separate being in the universe returns to the common source. Returning to the source is serenity.
If you don’t realize the source, you stumble in confusion and sorrow. When you realize where you come from, you naturally become tolerant, disinterested, amused, kindhearted as a grandmother, 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.
Commentary
The Taoist image of returning to the root maps directly onto the Christian mystical concept of union with God and the Hindu Atman returning to Brahman. ‘Emptying the mind’ is contemplative prayer, is meditation, is what Jesus practiced in the wilderness.
The serenity from recognizing the source is the ‘peace that passes understanding’ of Philippians 4:7. This serenity produces practical virtue, tolerance, kindness, dignity, not withdrawal from life.
‘When death comes, you are ready’, Seneca’s learning to die, the Stoic Memento Mori, the Buddhist awareness of impermanence, the Sufi fana, all traditions use the confrontation with mortality as the sharpest teacher.