I feel sorry for a man who worked hard all his life, raised five children, created a home and a family, but who is now disabled because of heart trouble and nervous reactions related to it. This sweet man thinks badly of himself because he retired before he wanted to. He thought all he had to do in life was work hard and everything would turn out fine. What he thought was the truth about life did not turn out to be so.
Lao Tse says, “The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.” He is saying that the Tao, or the path to happiness, is not something that can easily be told to you or be easily expressed verbally. You might have some good ideas about how your life works, but sooner or later, like my disappointed client, you face up to the reality that your idea does not work for every situation. The universe goes on its merry way and we do what we can to describe it. Nevertheless, any description is simply an approximation. Some approximations are more accurate than others, but they are all still only approximations. This is what we forget.
In the Hindu tradition, they say that everything is “maya”, or illusion. What we think is going on in the world is just our personal speculation and can not stand for what is actually occurring. For example, if we describe a person, whatever we say will never be able to totally recreate that person. Our words will never replace the person. The same is true about life. Whatever we theorize about life is just our concept about life and will not take the place of actually living. In this way, our ideas are just illusions. If we were aware of our “illusions”, we would not be so “disillusioned” when life did not turn out the way we expected it to. To become caught up in our illusions is the cause of most of life’s suffering.
There is no absolute truth about life. There are truths that work for many and truths that have value, but there is no truth that will satisfy one hundred percent of the people, one hundred percent of the time. Although we may think we have the absolute truth to satisfy all mankind, it obviously does not work because mankind is still not totally sold on it. The closest to the absolute is to simply say again there is no absolute truth. Like Lao Tse, saying something takes away from what is actually there.
Trying to describe the truth has value and we all do this, but the disadvantage comes when we forget and take our speculations as the real thing. This is one of the reasons for my Natural Success principles. The principles do not give you the specific remedy for a given situation. They simply guide you to the result you want. Of course, you must understand their proper application. Life then becomes art because you gather all the variables and you live out a unique expression. Principles make your approach to life flexible. Each situation requires just the right touch. If you know something works in one situation and not in others, then you aren’t living from a formula that is rigid or outdated. Relish the value of your experience, but don’t let your past overshadow the present. Live each moment as if it were your first and life becomes fresh and alive.