Happy Friday to All!
Never a dull moment in Paul’s life, I had a busy day with clients, a CHEK Faculty Call and continued working through year-end projects yesterday.
I was able to get into the gym for a quick pumping workout; after all the heavy lifting and lunging this week it felt great!
It stormed and rained the past couple of days so this morning its crisp but beautiful, so I decided to go for a run in the hills behind my house. I feel ALIVE!!
It’s a perfect day to work with clients who are coming to spend the day with Vidya and myself.
Here is a Tao-Te-zen that I think you will enjoy.
Effective Opposition is as Index and Thumb
In life, we need something as a mode of resistance, as a means of feeling. If there is no resistance, there is no feeling.
The word “effective” means that you get the chosen outcome. Just as we must pay attention where we place our fingers and our thumbs when using power tools or chisels or hammers, we must also be aware of how much force we generate with the opposition of index finger and thumb.
When holding a grape with too much force, we pop the grape. When holding an egg with too much force, we crack the egg. When holding your lover, if you use too much force, it creates awareness of
discomfort as opposed to pleasure.
When we hold a pencil, we can write for hours if we use effective opposition of index finger and thumb, yet too much anxiety, too much nervous tension, aggression soon makes the fingers uncomfortable.
How much opposition is effective between index finger and thumb when tying your shoes, when using a paintbrush? How much is optimal for the dentist’s index finger and thumb when using sharp tools in your mouth. These are all brief lessons in effective opposition.
Effective opposition is all around us. The day becomes the night. Evil has the power of becoming good, and the good have the power of becoming evil.
Finger and thumb apart make two
Yet when brought together, they make a hole
Finger and thumb apart hold the bowl
Yet when used effectively in opposition
They plant, prepare, and produce the meal
That feeds the whole
Fingers and thumbs come together when people pray
Yet it is how they are used in opposition that differentiates
Battle from play each day
TAO-TE-zen practice is tai chi,
Effective opposition Used wisely,
Effective opposition always produces Love
All else is fear
Effective opposition
That is zen
Resistance always gives us the offering of awareness.
When you meet somebody and you shake hands, certainly you’ve had a variety of experiences from the hand that’s cold and clammy with no tone whatsoever and is almost as though nobody is there, to the individual who lacks self confidence and needs to make sure they know they’re there and squeezes your hand so hard it’s almost unbearable.
Our Sutra expansion today is to become aware of opposition. When are we being too forthright and too forceful?
You can witness that by signs of opposition. If the egg cracks and you didn’t want it to crack, that’s a message. If you’re being too abusive with your paintbrush, it makes a mess. That’s a message.
If you’re not sharing enough love with those that need your love, they will often times create resistance in your life.
Sadly, many people learn to use disconnection in attempt to create connection. Where there is a sense of disconnection in relationship, we need only look at how effective our use of opposition is.
Opposition does not necessarily mean to oppose.
If you’re holding somebody’s hand affectionately, you are not opposing them. You are using effective opposition to create connection.
Yet there are times when we need effective opposition to create a healthy barrier or resistance; to flow when somebody is clearly moving themselves in the direction of what they don’t want, and though they cannot see it, we may have the wisdom to share with them.
I’m sure you’ve already found out, wisdom shared with such people is often a source of opposition.
When we are giving love as effective opposition, it is important to have a healthy level of detachment from the outcome.
We cannot fix people. We can only share our healing and our own view of life, and to the degree that we create effective opposition in relationships, we heal together.
Remembering that all that nourishes you, heals you, and what heals you, heals humanity in the word.
That is zen.
Will you join me in this important practice?
Love and chi,
Paul Chek
