Last night I fell asleep listening to the Tao Te Ching narrated by Wayne Dyer.
When I woke up this morning, I had a few insights.
One of the struggles I’ve been recently facing is balancing masculinity, ambition, and alignment with Tao.
Today I observed the people around me…
On the bus, I saw a couple. One was an older man in his mid 30’s. He was tall, had traces of a handsome face, and sandy blonde hair. However, he was very skinny almost malnourished with holes in his shirt. The woman he was cuddling and kissing was significantly older. She must have been early 40’s but looked was prematurely aged undoubtedly due to drug addiction. She had the smoked out face of a meth-addict.
In the corner of the bus and to my left sat an older black man. He was chomping away at some fast-food. He was in his mid 50’s or so. His posture looked bad. He was wearing worn-out clothes and looked like he was coming home from work. Probably a janitor somewhere.
I went to Walmart to return my bike and the woman that greeted me at the customer service desk was disgusting. She looked away as she greeted me with her cow-like eyes void of any vitality or consciousness.
The above was simply to say that a naive person may read the teachings of the Tao and dismiss the world. He may dismiss his ambitions and desires to succeed. He may dismiss his desire to strive for an ideal and overcome weakness. He may dismiss many things in favor of living a more natural life aligned with Tao.
But I say FUCK THAT. More specifically fuck the teachings of the Tao in that context.
As Jerzy Gregorek says “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”
The above people had taken the path of least resistance. They didn’t take responsibility for their lives. They didn’t stay focused and disciplined when it was needed. They didn’t optimize their health, wealth, or relationships. They just went with the flow and now they are living shitty lifestyles and must slave away at whatever job they can get so they can enjoy some evening television and other BS.
Living in accordance with nature is best for those prepared to give everything up for it. Otherwise, it is best for older men who have had their go in the world and built a solid foundation for themselves physically, financially and family-wise.
Otherwise, the only option is to live a life aligned with Tao but to stay disciplined and live the way of the warrior, king, and lover as well. To fuck the world to smithereens while encompassing it with your connection to Tao.
In other words, go out into the world, build, fight, learn, fuck, grow, overcome, SUCCEED but do so in a way that is aligned with your inner-stillness. Never stray too far away from that my brothers for that is God.
Best,
Maximillian Giamarco
Reader Interactions