Our biggest problem is we have wandered away from our Source. Jesus and Lao Tzu say the solution is to return to our Source, God, or Tao.
How can we return to our Source? The Tao Te Ching says, “If you can empty your mind of all thoughts your heart will embrace the tranquility of peace. Watch the workings of all creation, but contemplate their return to the source.” The workings of all creation certainly have their allure, but returning to our Source brings us peace.
The Water Cycle
Every student of Earth Sciences learns about the water cycle. Water evaporates from the ocean, and floats through the sky in the form of clouds. As rain, the same water falls to the ground. It soaks into the earth until gravity pulls it toward a stream. Rolling downhill, that stream joins a river until it flows back to the ocean. The water reaches a point of peace when it returns to its source. Here’s how Lao Tzu describes it:
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching, Verse 16
J.H. McDonald Translation
If you can empty your mind of all thoughts
your heart will embrace the tranquility of peace.
Watch the workings of all of creation,
but contemplate their return to the source.
All creatures in the universe
return to the point where they began.
Returning to the source is tranquility
because we submit to Heaven’s mandate.
Returning to Heaven’s mandate is called being constant.
Knowing the constant is called ‘enlightenment’.
Not knowing the constant is the source of evil deeds
because we have no roots.
By knowing the constant we can accept things as they are.
By accepting things as they are, we become impartial.
By being impartial, we become one with Heaven.
By being one with Heaven, we become one with Tao.
Being one with Tao, we are no longer concerned about
losing our life because we know the Tao is constant
and we are one with Tao.
Returning to the Source
As a pathway to this returning, Lao Tzu suggests contemplating the cycle of all things. Everything is born and everything dies. This is why Christians say, “Earth to earth, ashes to ashes, and dust to dust.” All things return to their source. Yet, unlike the author of Ecclesiastes who worries and frets about the impermanence of all things, Lao Tzu finds tranquility and peace in this idea of ephemerality.
Distracted from Our Connection
So many things in life distract us from our connection to our Source. We become preoccupied with our grocery lists, the to-do list at work, and all of our social contacts. We give each of these undue importance, treating them as if they are the only thing that matters for that moment.
If we give these distractions too much weight in our lives, they can cause horrible anxiety. It’s helpful to remember that all these things have their beginning, and each one will end. Restlessness comes from focusing on the ten thousand things that pull you away from your focus. But tranquility is found in returning to the Source.
Returning to the Beginning
Lao Tzu writes, “All creatures in the universe return to the point where they began. Returning to the source is Tranquility because we submit to heaven’s mandate.” If you look at the sweeping scope of the Bible, you find a similar return to the point of where things began. At the beginning, we find a garden scene. It is in this garden that human beings first forget their connection to the Divine, and everything falls apart.
At the climax of the Bible’s narrative are two gardens: Gethsemane and the Resurrection Garden. These represent death and rebirth. The Bible’s cycle concludes with a cosmic oasis, portraying a creation restored to its Edenic perfection. In other words, as Lao Tzu puts it, “All creatures in the universe return to the point where they began.”
One with the Tao
In this cycle, we find tranquility and submit to Heaven’s mandate. The Tao Te Ching says, “Returning to Heaven’s mandate is called being constant. Knowing the constant is called ‘enlightenment.’ Not knowing the constant is the source of evil deeds because we have no roots. But by knowing the constant we can accept things as they are. By accepting things as they are, we become impartial. By being impartial, we become one with Heaven. And by being one with Heaven, we become one with Tao. Being one with Tao, we are no longer concerned about losing our life because we know the Tao is constant and we are one with Tao.” Christians see this acted out vividly in the life of Jesus.
Gethsemane: A Place of Peace
In Gethsemane, Jesus agonizes over the thought of his impending death. This is different from all of the other times where he references his upcoming death. In those cases, his words are filled with a sense of resoluteness, constancy, and peace. Of course, it is different this time, because it’s about to happen any moment!
Yet, despite his anxiety he enters contemplation and prayer until he finally comes to a place of peace. He can do this because he is completely connected to his Source. Being one with his Source, Jesus can be called sinless. Because he is constant, he has no evil within him. He can accept things as they are. This makes him impartial, showing the same love to everyone he redeems. Jesus is one with Heaven and with Tao, and so he makes peace with the idea of losing his life.
Peaceful Union with the Source
How would it be if all who follow Jesus practiced the same peaceful union with their source? Like Jesus, each of us could say of our own life, “No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it up again.” Understanding that all things are born and all things die, we would return to Heaven’s mandate. We would walk in enlightenment.
Free From the Power of Sin
This is what it means when we say that Jesus frees us from the power of sin. If we walk in the faith of Jesus, we will be constant as he was, with roots as deep as his. Our deeds will not overpower us because of our connection to the Source. In this constancy, we will be able to accept all things and all people as they are.
Being impartial as Jesus was, we will be one with Heaven and one with everyone we meet on the way. With this kind of oneness, we will no longer be concerned about losing our possessions, our reputation, our social status, our advantages in society, or even our very lives. Because we have returned to our Source, we experience eternal life in the here and now.
Something to Pray…
Great Source of universal and eternal life, all things flow from you and to you all things return. I confess that I easily become distracted from your power that draws everything back to your infinite mercy and love. You said, “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” It is my desire to step into that flow and be drawn to the Source of all life and love. Help me to abandon distraction and delusion, so that I may more easily return to the Ocean of love from which I came. Amen.
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