Easy is right. Begin rightand you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
is to forget the right way
and forget that the going is easy.
Chuang Tzu [translated by Thomas Merton]
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Wisdom Story – 116
Easy is right. Begin rightand you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
is to forget the right way
and forget that the going is easy.
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{ 32 comments… read them below or add one }
It’s 12:30 am here and I’m going to admit that the first thing that popped into my head when I read this was this irreverent (but entirely true) tidbit from Lily Tomlin: “For fast-acting relief, try slowing down.”
Happy Friday one and all….
Michelle,
Loved the reference to Lily Tomlin (with whom I went through a TSA line at Cincinnati Airport last year!) Thank you.
Paul
Mmmmmmmm….. I am reminded of such great surrender by those few words. Not the surrender of defeat, but of some great turning, yielding to some great love. I have to say the feeling that came over me as I read the post was quite profound.
Oh Michelle – your comment! I love the Lily Tomlin reference. And as someone who has created an email address and original online presence (back in the wild west days of 5 years ago, when anonymity seemed the way to go!) using the Latin that means “make haste slowly,” I had to smile!
Fran,
I like the notion of a “great surrender” to God. As you know, I struggle to come before the Lord with open hands instead of clenched fists.
Paul
Fran
Your response not the surrender…but of some great turning….
as i go off to work I am going to let that steep.
thank you
Carol,
As a tea drinker, I’m all about steeping… and I find that the comments you and others make in response to the Wisdom Stories causes me to reflect deeply. Thank you.
Paul
Love it! Easy duzzit!
Mike,
Good to hear from you. Glad you liked it.
Paul
And yet doing the right thing, especially for others, is rarely easy to do… even if it brings us inner peace.
Maura,
Ain’t that the truth!
Paul
This quote sailed right over my head, so I had to find some context. If you’re like me, it will help a lot to see the full poem below.
When the Shoe Fits
Ch’ui the draftsman
Could draw more perfect circles freehand
Than with a compass.
His fingers brought forth
Spontaneous forms from nowhere. His mind
Was meanwhile free and without concern
With what he was doing.
No application was needed
His mind was perfectly simple
And knew no obstacle.
So, when the shoe fits
The foot is forgotten,
When the belt fits
The belly is forgotten,
When the heart is right
“For” and “against” are forgotten.
No drives no compulsions,
No needs, no attractions:
Then your affairs
Are under control.
You are a free man.
Easy is right. Begin right
And you are easy.
Continue easy and you are right.
The right way to go easy
Is to forget the right way
And forget that the going is easy.
~ Chuang Tzu ~
Jim,
I’m ashamed to tell you that I didn’t know the full poem existed. Thank you.
Paul
Thank you, Jim
Jim! I completely needed the whole poem. I was feeling like such a schmoo that I couldn’t wrap my head around the final stanza! With the rest of the poem it made so much more sense to me…I guess I just need the whole story!
I am amazed at the insight to this. I was reading the comments and thinking…wow…the company I am keeping here is impressive. So grateful!!
Paul,
Ashamed? That was a little gift … God pulling you a little more deeply….it is a beautiful thing. I think it is fantastic you could pull wisdom from what you did! Just sayin!
Annette
Glad I wasn ‘t the only one who didn’t get it at first. I was very grateful for the full poem
That’s where I like to spend my time: in the zone
Anne
Anne,
I’d never thought of it as “the zone” before. Thank you for broadening my horizons.
Paul
Thanks Jim for the full version, as like you; the verse sailed over my head. I now have a better understanding.
Happy weekend to all. Planning to bake cakes with 3yr old Gracie and if she lets me cuddle our 6wk old grandson.
Katy,
Have a wonderful time with the grandkids!
Paul
Thanks Jim! Reminds me of my first riding instructor’s words, “Be one with the horse. ” When we stop trying, we give in to those unseen forces that carry us. Tho not verbatim there is another master who said “put on my yoke, the way is easy, my burden light. ” When we’re doing what’s right, the path opens before us and what may appear a challenge to an outside observer, doesn’t seem so to us.
So very true. I like your riding instructor’s wise words, “Be one with the horse.” God often tells me to rest in God which seems to me to be the same invitation.
love it!
Thanks for the whole poem, Jim. When I first read the post I was in a hurry so I didn’t comment but it reminds me so much of Pedro Arrupe’s prayer “In the hands of God” which I pray several times a day:
“More than ever I find myself in the hands of God.
This is what I have wanted all my life from my youth.
But now there is a difference;
the initiative is entirely with God.
It is indeed a profound spiritual experience
to know and feel myself so totally in God’s hands.”
Have a good weekend everyone.
Lynda, I love that. Thank you!
I happened to view a short video of you talking about our deepest desire before I read this poem. And like Jim, I read the full poem when I clicked on the Source provided. It is so beautiful in its entirety.
Like what you said in the video, I start my prayer, as far as I can remember, with “Just teach me to love you” by way of acknowledging my deepest desire. In one moment of inspiration, I was afforded to view my life from the time I was born up to that particular moment in prayer, and was shown what was missing in each episode of my life. I realized that I had lived for other people’s expectations – be it family, religion, society, etc.- that I did not give myself a chance to be me – my uniqueness before God. Slowly, I took the courage give myself a chance -a saint and a bungler – but confident that I am trying to express my individuality as I am before God. It is so freeing for it is indeed an “easy road” when one relinquishes the desire to perform to the tunes of others. I listen to my own special symphony – and probably, the reason why I love being in the Garden of Gethsemane because it symbolizes to me, among other things, a place of renunciation. I thank God for this invitation.
Emma — I thought of “My yoke is light, ” too. I am still wondering how it is that we can “forget that the going is easy.” Maybe what I need to do is stop thinking about it for a while — maybe that’s the message for me this weekend — just relax, and not worry if I am doing it all the right way, and just enjoy doing it.
Happy weekend, everyone.
Love “and forget that the going is easy” so true. But you know, it is better when it is shared!
When I first started riding, I was so tense. I held on for dear life, kicking, yanking on the reins and I would smack him with the crop. That horse wouldn’t move! He would stiffen up, turn his head and look up at me as if to say, “What the eff do you want? ” As soon as I relaxed my legs and my grip o n him, we started going places. Once I trusted him to carry me we FLEW! I think that’s the same with God. When we trust that he will get us through, when we trust Him to carry us over life’s hurdles, we SOAR! But first, we have to loosen our grip on therreins
Tricky though eh?
Count me in on the full version being required to understand it. It was like someone missing out a line or two of factorisation and delivering an abridged equation form for me :-/
NICE. RECNTLY CAME ACROSS THIS WONDEFUL PLACE BYCHANCE NOW LOVE TO READ EACH POST AND LOVE TO BE HERE.