The Way of the Wise Man

In my wonderful book titled "Awakenings" by Danielle and Olivier Follmi, there is a quote from Chuang-tzu that reads, "To act with the minimum of effort and obtain the maximum results, such is the way of the wise man."

This concept can be found in such practices as Tai Chi, Wyn Tsun and many others. In these martial arts, one does not aggressively strike out so much as both not be in the way of an aggressor striking out and to use the force of their strike against them. Thus we dodge the strike, grasp the arm that is striking and pull it along the path of the strike right past us. The aggressor usually goes through the wall with minimum effort on our part.

But this concept can be applied to every day life. The photo that goes with the quotation in the book is of a shimmery body of water with a group of people on a small sail boat moving along with the wind pulling them. Talk about minimum effort in application! Besides sailing, we can also "sail" right through various challenges in our lives with minimum effort as well. The trick here is to know what we truly want and who we truly are. Everything that does not fit that knowing simply falls away from us and can no longer clutter our paths. This is not to say that getting to know who we are and what we want is without effort. But once we discover the simple truths about ourselves, the rest comes easily. Try it. You might find it to be quite enjoyable!

Blessed Be

Trent
www.deerhornshamanic.com