Allow Your Light to Fill the Darkness: A Primer to Living the Light Within Us According to the Tao

By Daniel Frank

How do we recognize error in our thinking? How can we enjoy the spiritual benefits of practicing our religion while not condemning the religion of others? These questions are addressed in the eighty-one commentaries included in this book. These commentaries refer to, but are independent of, the illuminating and compelling essay collection about Lao-tzus Tao Te Ching, as voiced in Change Your ThoughtsChange Your Life by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer.

Living right, according to the Tao, anticipates that we have both the understanding needed to make right choices and the knowledge to recognize the types of behavior that are important for us to change. However, of equal or greater significance to these skills are the feelings that drive our internal motivation at our center. Many of us need to learn the life lessons that keep popping up as issues in our lives. They keep resurfacing until we finally recognize the lessons and actually learn them. We know we have really been learning our lessons when we notice that our intentions are genuinely beginning to change.

We have absolutely no concept of how the connections we feel and know to be real actually come about, between ourselves and others, between us and the happenings of life, or between us and God. We often describe these feelings or experiences as resulting from some type of energy, but what might that really mean? Reflecting this unexplainable, invisible, but vital connection on the written page through symbolism provides our minds with a crutch to assist understanding and recall. Although the illustrations as drawn may have little or no basis in the facts, the understanding of the concepts that develop through their use helps us apply the gems that Lao-tzu speaks of in the Tao, to our lives.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press
• Release date: Oct 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781452557748

Daniel Frank

With a modest upbringing and supportive parents, Daniel Frank completed his teacher training at the age of eighteen and started his nonstop forty-two-year teaching career the following year. He acquired his BA and BEd while working full time. In January of 1978, his interests led him to a course offered at the local secondary school based on the book How Should We Then Live? by Francis A. Schaeffer, a “theologian and philosopher … [with] forty years of intensive study of humanism and Christian truths.” It stirred something within him to search for more answers to the question asked by the title of Schaeffer’s book. Although many of the authors he has read to date have contributed to the view of God he holds today, Dr. Wayne W. Dyer tops the list.

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Copyright © 2012 by Daniel Frank.

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The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

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ISBN: 978-1-4525-5773-1 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5775-5 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-5774-8 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2012915581

Balboa Press rev. date: 10/23/2012

Contents

Preface

01   Be Conscious of the Indefinable Tao

02   Living in Unity

03   Forgiveness Releases Fear

04   Our Infinite Source

05   Don’t Play Favorites

06   Engage Your Creativity

07   Balanced Living

08   Trust in the Flow

09   Modesty Helps Hone Our Awareness

10   Choose the Oneness of the Tao

11   Linking to the Nothingness at Our Center

12   Look Inward

13   Remain Detached from the Opinion of Others

14   Experience Now in Complete Awareness

15   Calmly Follow Life’s Flow

16   Accept Change as a Constant of the Tao

17   Teaching through Being

18   Alive on the Inside

19   Living in Harmony

20   Free Yourself: Decide to Accept and Allow the Present Moment

21   Energy, Essence, and Life

22   The Answer is Within

23   Choose Nature’s Way

24   Be Thankful, Not Boastful

25   Understanding the Way

26   Relax, Accept, and Allow

27   Extending the Light

28   Get Down—Accept the Flow

29   Allow Natural Law to Prevail

30   Control by Force Invites Failure

31   Decide to Help—Not Harm

32   Tao Goodness Brings Peace

33   Understanding Leads to Wisdom

34   The Tao Is Greatness

35   Absolute Contentment

36   Observe from a Place of Unimportance

37   Accomplishment through Tao-Awareness

38   Follow the Goodness Within

39   Living in Oneness with the Whole

40   Live Connected

41   Thinking in Congruence with the Tao

42   Thoughts Change Everything

43   Centered Responses

44   Stop Striving: Feel the Love and Contentment

45   Honest to Go(o)dness Feelings: Our True Connection

46   Live Connected and Be Content

47   Just Feel It

48   Seek Nothing of this World; Just Be

49   Childlike Acceptance

50   Choices

51   Live by Giving of Yourself

52   Live the Return to the Light

53   Right-Mindedness and Integrity

54   Choose to Live Life Nurtured in the Tao

55   Relax and Trust the Tao with No-Limit Thinking

56   Feeling Peaceful Awareness

57   Feel the Change—the Rest Will Happen

58   Accept the Wholeness of Life

59   Focus on Thoughts of Virtue

60   When More People Begin to Trust the Tao …

61   Trust from an Unassuming Position

62   Accept the Gift and Offer It to Others

63   Trust More—Fret Less

64   Do Nothing

65   An Honest and Heartfelt Way of Life

66   Authentic Power

67   The Treasures of Life According to Lao-tzu

68   Power through Collaboration

69   Recognize Good in Our Perceived Enemies

70   Recognizing and Polishing Our Precious Gems

71   Trust in the Knowledge of the Present

72   Living in Awe of the Truth

73   Invisible Energy—the Net of Heaven

74   Awareness of the Gap

75   Forgiveness and Trust

76   Live within the Flexibility Offered by the Gap

77   Giving from a Place of Surplus

78   Living from Our Place of Softness

79   Arguments, Forgiveness, and Giving

80   Simplicity and Contentment

81   Living in Congruence with Consciousness

About the Author

I believe people are as they think. The choices we make in the next decade will mold irrevocably the direction of our culture . . . and the lives of our children.

—Francis A. Schaeffer

for my parents

Illustrations

Figure

1: The Mystery of the Tao

2: Accepting Duality without Judgment

3: Our Shield from Ego

4: Living Between Wisdom and Love

5: Our Dynamic Gift

6: The Genesis of Ideas

7: Gifts of Parity

8: Living in the Flow

9: Knowing Who We Are

10: Living in Freedom

11: The Hub Within

12: Life without Attachment

13: An Independent Mind

14: Oneness: The Source of Experiences in Form

15: Be Receptive

16: Perceived Endings

17: Leadership Styles

18: We Are Love at Our Center

19: In Harmony with Authority

20: Be Happy Now

21: Intelligent Energy

22: Releasing Attachments Creates Space within Us

23: Natural Law

24: Accomplishment through the Tao

25: Greatness

26: The Tao Is Our Anchor

27: Sharing

28: Claiming an Unassuming Position

29: Surrender

30: Our Behavior Style and Its Frequency Level

31: Fear and Decisions

32: Our Nameless Source

33: Understanding Ourselves and Others

34: Born of the Tao

35: The Tao Outshines the Physical

36: Our Conscious Witness

37: Do Nothing

38: Walls of Separation

39: The Oneness of the Universe

40: Releasing from Ego

41: Accepting the Lessons of Life

42: Changing the Way We Think

43: Breaking Down the Barriers

44: Releasing Our Hold on Fear

45: Feelings Connect Us

46: The Tao: Peace, Love, and Contentment

47.1: My Me Collection

47.2: Balancing Our Collection

48: Trusting the Wisdom of the Tao

49: Perceiving Difference as Knowledge

50: Choosing Love, Not Fear

51: Unleashing Our Hidden Virtue

52: Living the Return

53: Our Lifeline

54: The Tao: Oneness with All

55: No-Limit Thinking

56: Connect to the Love

57: Observing through the I of Spirit

58: The Wholeness of Good and Bad Fortune

59: Collecting Virtue First

60: At the Core of Our Intention

61: Arrogant Versus Modest Thinking

62: Praying While We Live

63: Relax and Trust in the Tao

64.1: Our Performances on the Stage of Life

64.2: Our Personal Reality Intervention

65: Our Moments of Opportunity

66: New Thoughts—New Beginnings

67: Living Our Treasures

68: Living with Right Intentions

69.1: Fear Creates Boundaries

69.2: Removing the Barriers of Fear

70: God’s Energy Made Simple—GEMS

71: Healthy Attitudes

72: In Awe of the Truth

73: Coalescence with the Net of Heaven

74: Awareness of the Gap

75: Forgiveness Allows Freedom

76: Flexibility Fosters Creativity

77: Giving

78: Life Led by Our Soft Central Focus

79: Offering Love

80: Melding Intention with Purpose

81: Living in Congruence

Preface

All of us probably remember the primer, or first reader, that opened our door to reading. The word primer in the subtitle is meant to represent the central idea behind the Tao that opens our world to a vast array of possibilities, much as reading places a storehouse of knowledge at our fingertips. Reading was the dawn of our connection to the vast world of knowledge, past and present. It is our choice to make wise use of our link to this information. Likewise, it is our choice to understand the link and live the concepts portrayed by wisdom literature, such as the Tao Te Ching, and others, whose basic concepts mesh with modern-day scientific discoveries that are beginning to offer insight into the operation of our Universe. The sagacity of the Tao can be recognized within each of its fundamental characteristics, as revealed verse by verse, and can begin to be accessed through an understanding of the Oneness that is the Tao. The strength of the Tao lies in Oneness, not in the words that attempt to describe the nothingness that connects us all.

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer includes his personally selected translation of the Tao in his book Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, along with his essays that unclothe the wisdom within each verse. In the preface of his book, Dr. Dyer suggests that the reader do the following:

First pursue one of the passages of the Tao Te Ching and the essay that follows it. Next, spend some time applying it, changing the way you’ve been conditioned to think, and letting yourself open up to a new way of conceptualizing these ideas. Finally, individualize the verse by writing, recording, drawing, or expressing yourself in whatever way you’re called to. (Dyer 2007, xv)

Dr. Dyer’s final suggestion in the previous quote fits well with my way of approaching new material. I began writing notes and making sketches to foster my personal understanding. As my appreciation for the Tao grew, my approach changed. I began to document my personal focus and understanding of the core message within each verse in both graphic and written form. The drawings that began as rough sketches developed into labeled graphics that represent what I conceptualize as a part of or the primary focus of each verse of the Tao as seen from my perspective. These illustrations attempt to capture and convey in real terms an aspect of the concise message each verse holds with not much more than a cursory glance. Although some of the commentaries in parts of the book are quite brief, I feel they are effectively complemented by the graphics, and together, are meant to illustrate the all-important message within each verse, or a key aspect of it that holds a parallel message of similar significance.

Because I am using Dr. Wayne W. Dyer’s chosen translation of the Tao included in his book Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life, along with his corresponding interpretive essays, making frequent references to his words and those of Lao-tzu feels essential to the process, since my comments and graphic illustrations build from there. In select locations throughout my writing, but particularly in the latter part, I draw on current reasoning from qualified, well-established, compelling, and credible authors of authority in the field. I have implemented these ideas into the gist of the verses that correlate, so as to produce an interflow with the main message of the Tao.

Therefore, for ease in reading, I have also taken the liberty to defy the rules for author-date citations, to allow for page numbers only after an initial author-date citation made earlier on the same page, instead of the established method, which accepts page numbers only after an author-date citation within the same paragraph. This means that quotes subsequent to an initial citation by the same author will be cited with only page numbers for not only the remainder of the paragraph but also for the remainder of the page, unless interrupted by a quote from a different author. This reduces the amount of author-date clutter on each page.

My comments focus particularly on the attributes of the Tao that I consider pivotal, and as well, I distinctly display significant detail in the labeled illustration. The way we think affects our decisions, which in turn affects our lives and the lives of others. The illustrations represent the gist, or a variation thereof, of each verse of the Tao and, in certain instances, may also help pinpoint behavior that might be wise to avoid. Although all verses of the Tao portray wise thinking, some verses are particularly significant. Too often, we don’t recognize how our thinking affects our decision-making. Kindly forgive me for making should and should not statements throughout the pages of the book. They may tend to sound judgmental, but the intent is simply to convey what I consider a good way to work on accomplishing the way of living suggested by the Tao.

The project has almost taken on a life of its own. Stillness is the avenue—the conduit that connects our mind and opens our heart to whatever our predominating thoughts have surrounded and settled around on a continuing and evolving basis. Accepting situations as they occur opens us to recognizing things in our lives that serve to guide us. Gregg Braden, in his book The Divine Matrix, supports this thinking as indicated by the following statement. Whether or not we recognize our resonant connection with the reality around us, it exists through the Divine Matrix. If we have the wisdom to understand the messages that come to us… our relationship with the world can be a powerful teacher. (Braden, The Divine Matrix 2010, 146)

Dyer masterfully unlocks the wisdom cleverly woven into the words of the Tao Te Ching approximately two thousand five hundred years ago. By applying this wisdom to our lives, we can begin to open to the world of all possibilities, because once we truly get it, the ideas are simple and can be brought into service through a realignment of our thought processes. A quote from the Chinese philosopher Confucius (BC 551-479) states that life is simple, but we insist on making it complicated (BrainyQuote.com 2012). The guidance available through the Tao opens us to our innate ability to implement changes that could lead to a life of meaningful purpose and virtue. We simply need to choose to avail ourselves to this offering by living the Tao. The simplicity of the idea is in direct opposition to our overactive, detail-oriented, controlling, and yet highly conditioned brain that remains very resistant to change.

It is appropriate at this point to include two quotes from Marcus Aurelius (AD 121-180), a Roman Emperor and philosopher. One quote reads that the soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts, while the other reveals that the universe is transformation; our life is what our thoughts make it (BrainyQuote.com 2012). This reminds us that only we control our train of thought and that this invariably produces a significant part of our personality, which leads to the choices we make.

The use of the word primer in the subtitle has a second significant purpose that rests in its use as an acronym, reminding us that living a more meaningful life requires a change in thinking. The word primer might be seen as a reminder that a Personal Reality Intervention (is the) Makeover Everyone Requires—PRIMER. The decision we make to implement the wisdom of the Tao into our lives allows us to begin the process of this all so important mind-makeover. The eighty-one verses of the Tao reveal what is needed to connect to our Source, as well as to tune into, and follow the intuitive guidance it offers.

This book is written from the perspective that because we all originate from the same Source, we are all in this together, hence the use of the first-person we throughout. I repeat: the commentaries are a merger of my portrayal of Taoist thought as arrived at through Dr. Dyer’s book Change Your Thoughts—Change Your Life (Dyer 2007) blended with my personal contribution including illustrations. This leads to mentioning certain aspects of my book that make it somewhat distinctive. To use another author’s book to justify a piece of writing may be considered by some as rather unusual. I concede that this approach is neither the commonly seen bookstore style nor the academic style of authoring a book. Although the following does not justify the process that I followed, it does suggest the high esteem I hold for Dr. Dyer, not to mention the other authors whose words and ideas I also respect and recognize as critically significant in promoting the change our world needs now. I refer the reader to a commonly used expression originating in the words of Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), an English cleric and writer, who said, Imitation is the sincerest [form] of flattery (BrainyQuote.com 2012).

A second unusual aspect of this book is displayed by the use of at least one illustration per section to help communicate the gist of each verse. The illustrations are also unique in the sense that a number of sentences are often used to clarify each illustration; and I have chosen to follow the principles of headline-style capitalization as if all labeling were part of the title. Another somewhat unusual aspect, but this time within the text, is the decision to capitalize words that I deem to be particularly significant to the main message, despite the conventions surrounding capitalization. Perhaps both examples of unconventional capitalization, as well as the other irregularities, can act as ongoing reminders, while reading the book, of the importance of changing many of the traditional ways we have been conditioned to think and seemingly forced to follow, without question. It is the ever-present awareness of the Tao, as it exists in us and everywhere around us that allows us to shift from our long-established beliefs by detaching from the pain of the past and the fear of the future, to live in the joy of life as it is in the present moment.

This project has roots that go back as far as 1978. At that time, a compulsion began to sprout within me from a seed planted by reading the book How Should We Then Live? by Francis E. Schaeffer. The book offers a remarkable analysis of the history of philosophical thought and the concept of God. It helped to unveil a deep need within me to seek out an alternate and yet aligned understanding to the Christian ethic that Francis A. Schaeffer offered in answer to this all-important question (Schaeffer 1976). My search clearly includes Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, and my increased familiarity with the topic is also grounded in other well-known authors. This describes the fourth atypical characteristic of this piece of writing—the use of a somewhat unbalanced number of corroboratory quotes.

I am a retired teacher with a BA and BEd. I do not have the university or college credentials or any other type of experience needed to be seen as qualified to propose scenarios like the following. For example, I suggest that the ever-present energy of the Universe that is the Tao may also be the shared but previously unrecognized Source that I feel played a part in the circumstances that were unequivocally involved in the formation of our many religions. I say this with the understanding that the ever-present consciousness or essence of the Tao has been part of our