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The spiritual valley can never be extinguished. It's correctly referred to as the mysteriously receptive. The entrance to mysterious receptivity is correctly referred to as the origin of the whole universe. It's continuous and unbroken! Its usefulness seems to persevere without effort.   Commentary: 6 ~ An Open Spirit -The spiritual valley can never be extinguished. -It's correctly referred to as the mysteriously receptive. The first two Chinese characters in Chapter six are gu (valley) shen (spirit), which is literally translated as "the Valley Spirit". Most translators and commentators incorporate the idea of the second line in this chapter to define the Valley Spirit as a Mysterious Female. Some people even suggest that there are sexual or gender specific ideas put forth in these lines. Thus, they are usually read as: "The valley spirit doesn't die We call [it] the dark womb" -Red Pine (TaoTeChing) "The valley spirit never dies; We call it the mysterious female." -R. Henricks (Te-Tao Ching) If gu shen is translated as "the spiritual valley", this chapter comes more into focus. The spiritual valley is a place within each person that seeks a connection with something beyond the material world. Most people at some time in their lives look for a spiritual understanding of their existence - something beyond their assessment of themselves by their position in life or their possessions. Laozi suggests that this spiritual valley may be more easily accessed by being receptive to all the mysteries of life. People have a tendency to try to fill up any emptiness they come upon in themselves. If they feel spiritually empty, they go looking for some belief system or religion to satisfy their doubts and fill up their sense of emptiness. What if the spiritual valley is meant to be empty? Not empty in the sense that nothing can penetrate it, but in a sense of being receptively open? Then the mysteries of life wouldn't be seen as things that needed to be sorted out and understood, but appreciated with a sense of wonder at not knowing. -The entrance to mysterious receptivity is correctly referred to as the origin of the whole universe. Some people believe there was a master plan in the creation of the universe (Creationism), while others believe it was a random event of particles bumping into each other and evolving (Evolutionism). The Laozi suggests that the universe didn’t have any plans of its own, but remained receptive to whatever eventually came about. Therein lies the mystery - the unconditional receptivity. When we look at our spiritual side - and we do all have one regardless of which name we choose to call it - a good question might be: “Is there room in my spiritual side for growth, change and receptivity?” If the whole universe could have come about due to unconditional receptivity, then it seems logical that we each could find delightful new beginnings and creativity by being that way ourselves. -It's continuous and unbroken! -Its usefulness seems to persevere without effort. The Laozi then says that receptivity can be continuous and unbroken, like a length of strong silk cord. It doesn’t need to be chopped up. We don’t need to say: “I’ll be receptive on Tuesday, but don’t mess with me on Thursday.” When you find how fantastic it is to let your spirit be open, and discover all the delights it brings you, you wouldn’t need to put any effort at all into being that way. But....... It can take a while to really feel that kind of unconditional receptivity. There are some tips in the rest of The Laozi on how to do it. Alternate translation: There’s something deep inside of you that you can’t get rid of. It has the sense of wonder and open arms of a small child. It’s what you were born with and what stays with you for your whole life. You can’t make it go away, and there’s no reason to try. It’s always there to guide you, so don’t reject it. Dao Is Open Site Map | BY: Nina | Guodian Laozi | DDJ Concordance | Comparisons | Who was Laozi | | Return Home | Laozi's Dao De Jing | Your Dao De Jing | Zhuangzi (Chuang Tzu) | Links | Meditation | Dao (Tao) is Open Forum | Book List | Other Stuff | |
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