Being in Harmony With God: My Contemplation of Verse 46 of the Tao Te Ching

Dr. Dyer's book is Change your Thoughts--Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao.

Today, I am focusing on verse 46 of the Tao Te Ching:

When the world has the Way,

running horses are retired to till the fields.

When the world lacks the Way,

warhorses are bred in the countryside.

There is no greater loss than losing the Tao,

no greater curse than covetousness,

no greater tragedy than discontentment;

the worst of faults is wanting more--always.

Contentment alone is enough.

Indeed, the bliss of eternity

can be found in your contentment.

What is the Way to peace?

Striving for contentment is difficult.  

Imagine a horse having a carrot dangling in front of it.  If the horse can't reach it, the horse gets frustrated, especially if it's very hungry.  Or consider the fox in one Aesop's fable?  You know the story, in which the fox gives up when he can't reach the grapes.  He walks away and says something like, "Well, the grapes were probably sour anyway."

Should we accept the lack of things and status?

No.  This 46th verse of the Tao Te Ching is not asking us to give up on our endeavors.  Lao-tzu, the writer of the Tao Te Ching, is asking us to be satisfied with what we already have.  We can experience happiness if we let go of the chase-of-things-and-higher-status mentality.  It is when we let go, that those wonderful blessings can truly come our way.

The thing we need to do is plug into the Source of everything (Tao, The Way)--God, the Father.  If we truly believe in God, we will trust in Him to provide for us.  

The greed for power and natural resources of land is the epitome of striving.  Are we little dictators in our community and/or families?  Are we fighting for something that will always escape us?  Is it worth it to strive for that which we should leave alone?  Why bother to see that which we really don't need in our lives?

Let's ask God to guide us.  

If He is the Source of everything, can't we lean on God to understand the priorities in our lives?  Let's stop what we are doing and ask God for wisdom to figure out what He wants for us.  Let's ask Him to remove greed and discontent from our hearts.  Only then, can we experience harmony in our lives.

Thanks for reading today's post about finding harmony with God.  

I appreciate you taking the time to read it.  

I've got some questions for you: Are you striving for possessions and status?  Are you frustrated with life?  Do you want to experience peace?  I pray that we all would seek peace from the Source of everything--Father, God.  I pray that we would ask God for His help to experience a deep, loving, and mutually beneficial relationship with Him.

May God bless you, my beloveds, with His wisdom and peace, in Jesus' name.  Amen!

This has been an entry for Wisdom Wednesdays.

I am currently drawing inspiration from Dr. Wayne W. Dyer's book and the 81 verses of the Chinese wisdom book the Tao Te Ching.