Polo is a famous horse trainer who appeared and proclaimed his proficiency at training horses. He thus burned their hair and clipped them, and pared their hoofs and branded them. He then put halters around their necks and shackles around their legs and numbered them according to their stables. The result was 20 to 30% died. Polo then began to keep the horses hungry and thirsty, trotting them to run in formation, with the misery of the tasselled bridle in front and the fear of the knotted whip behind. At this point, more than 50% died.
Do you
see any similarity to what has happened to the "working class" in
the past several years in terms of benefits, decent working
conditions, etc? How about the desertification of the land due to how we have used it for farming, standardized communities, and industry?
When you let go of being a trained horse, a working class person who opts radical change by deconditioning yourself, that too will be seen as a waste by the "powers that be." But it might be what saves you from an early grave. Of course it also may wind you up being killed.
Ultimately, being useless is key to a proper life. This too is a Taoist statement. Horses that are useless are not put to the plow. (Of course, in our culture they might be euthanized).
Be you a horse or human being, awakening is dangerous for to awaken is to become useless. Are you to fear the cross of Ceaser? Or are you to evolve into a higher dimension of consciousness by being useless? Perhaps it is in uselessness that you will find your greatest use? Sit there and breathe for a while. Be useless. Meditate on the breath. I say that if you meditate on breathing, you will find your usefulness to all things. Yet, to the man you are useless. Become useless to the man and you become useful to the rest of Nature.
Footnote and Reference
1 Lin Yutang (Translator and Editor), The Wisdom of Laotse, Random House, 1948, 1972. (For those interested, I really recommend this version of the Tao Te Ching which also includes commentary writings by Taoist Chuangtse. I see these commentaries as helpful in helping one to go deeper into the text. Having the two side-by-side is nice to help consolidate and elicit one's own thoughts. I've read this from front to back three times and each time have gleamed gold from it).
2 By sin I do not mean evil. I am taking the term in its original connotation, meaning "to miss the mark."
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