Tao is a hollow vessel,
   And its use is inexhaustible!
Fathomless!
   Like the fountainhead of all things,
   Its sharp edges rounded off,
   Its tangles untied,
   Its light tempered,
   Its turmoil submerged,
Yet dark like deep water, it seems to remain.
   I do not know whose Son it is,
   An image of what existed before God. (Tao Te Ching chapter 4, Lin Yu Tang trans.)

I said before that the Tao is an energy that flows through everything. Our true selves can use it. I also said it works in cycles and that it may take a while for it to come if your true self asks for something.

Part of the reason for the delay is that things take time here on the physical plane. Also, whether we know it or not, we need other true selves to help us. For example, say you need cash. You walk down the road thinking about the money and suddenly find a $50 bill someone dropped. That bill didn’t just appear. Someone, another true self, dropped that bill so that you could find it.

It’s the same thing for everything else. If two people are supposed to get together, their true selves made that plan in the astral plane before coming here. Once here, however, it may take years, if not decades, for those two people to meet.

One reason is that our true selves are immortal consciousnesses, while our earthly beings are physical. So, when one of the true selves incarnates, it may be decades before the other appears.  

These true selves may have to travel to the meeting place. It may also be because the two people must be adults for this planned meeting.

Finally, these people may have to experience different things in their lives before they meet.

An excellent example of two true selves coming together is the old saying, “When the student is ready,  the teacher will appear.” First, the student must reach the level the teacher can help. Only then will the teacher appear.

Have you ever been in traffic and found yourself delayed? Or perhaps you found smooth sailing all the way. Every light is green, and there’s no traffic? That is part of the Tao at work, too. Either way, you are always where you are supposed to be, doing what you are supposed to be doing.

Our minds and egos can complicate things, especially before our true selves fully awaken. We must stop the mind in meditation to see the true self. Overcoming the power of the mind takes a lot of work, but it can be done.

Even after the true self awakens, the mind and ego remain. Your true self uses them to move through the world, get things done, and cooperate with other true selves. But they can still cause problems if we let them.

Before your true self is fully awake, it works in the background. A dream we may have or a strong urge to move in a particular direction may come into our minds. That is the true self-working in the background. On the other hand, with our true selves in the background, our minds and egos can cause us a lot of trouble.

A sure sign of mind/ego is impatience. Our true selves are immortal, so they don’t experience impatience. Another sign of mind/ego is frustration or needless anger.

Say an order is delayed for some reason. That feeling of anger is pure mind/ego.

Even when we are on our true path, and something happens to delay progress, feelings of frustration and anger are pure mind/ego.

Stop when the mind/ego flashes impatience, anger, or frustration. Recognize those feelings from your mind/ego and let them go.

Worry is another product of our minds and egos. I always ask people who worry if worrying about it will solve their problems. The answer is no, it never will. So why carry it around with you?

There is an old Zen story about two monks from a very strict sect who have no contact with women. The two monks come to a river and find a frail old woman looking to cross. Seeing no one who can help, one of the monks picks up the lady and carries her across the river. She thanks them and leaves.

At that point, the other monk begins to berate the monk for carrying the woman, describing how he broke his vows. He continues this way for the next few miles. Finally, the first monk says to the other, “Yes, I carried the woman across the river, but you have been carrying her ever since.”

The lesson is that it is always better to drop or let go of worry, hate, anger, or any other bad feelings because they can rot and leave one exhausted.

They are also pure mind/ego. Those on the path must always be alert to this. Do not criticize yourself for getting caught up in a mind/ego trap; instead, see the trap, let it go, and move on.

That is the key to working from our true selves. Our minds and egos will not quit. So, we must recognize the signs of a mind/ego trap. That takes practice.

We must be attuned to our true selves, which is done through meditation. We must also learn to see the mind/ego traps as traps and how easy it is to get caught up in them. We must then learn how to let these traps go.

Seeing the traps as traps can be easy. They’re traps if you’re impatient, worrying, anxious, upset, frustrated, angry, or blaming yourself for something. But traps can also be feelings of good emotions. It can be a trap if you are delighted over an event or overly excited by something. Remember, traps are tricks of the mind/ego that distract you from your true path.

The more distracted you are, the easier the mind/ego can control you. So be aware of these traps.

As the old Zen proverb says, let them in the front door and out the back door, but do not serve them tea.

I’ll explain how to let them go in another post. Until then, keep meditating and focus on spotting the traps that your mind/ego brings.