Today my focus was on just two chapters of the Tao Te Ching, Chapters 29 and 30. In my last Tao Te Ching reflection I strongly felt the message “Receive and Accept, and the Tao will be Luminous Inside You" as I continued reading in the two chapters that followed I heard a larger message. “Accept, the Tao IS Luminous Inside You” there is no need for “will be”. It is always within. The accepting just opens us to be further illuminated in this truth. Within this message is also the wisdom that while this truth flows through us, the Tao is ever flowing and luminous within our universe and within us all. And that fighting against this flow is a fruitless attempt. It moves us to accept ourselves and others, see our light and theirs, and to open to our truth and the beauty of the world. The text also highlights an important distinction for forces in our world, sharing that for every force, there is a counter force, and that violence, no matter how well intentioned will also come back on itself. These two messages, shared in one offering, resonated with me greatly in this time we are experiencing. Rather than the anxiety I’ve been feeling about the hate speech and action delivered by many in power, I now see that the rise of these people and actions could be a reaction to the immense amount of light that has been rising within us all. A light that was always present but that has been further illuminated through our acceptance of and pull to its reality, both within ourselves and others. The reality of this love and our connectedness, our oneness, through it. Living within this truth allows us to open, to accept (while standing up in love for others) the world, to sit in quiet and open to the Tao ever present within us. To illuminate the Tao that is us, that flows through us and beyond us, to open our heart and light the world. ✨✨✨