Miss the obvious
Tuesday, 10. April 2007, 21:46:38
Coming home from shopping today, we met in our street some Jehovahs Witnesses and this one lady followed me up our path, we laughed a little and leaned against the fence as i pointed to our neighbours house who are catholics and next door who where out. She introduced herslef and told me what she was doing etc. Very friendly, she asked me if i thought about what was happening in the world today and if i had a spiritual beleif. I told her i was a Taoist and how that fit for me in the world at large, that the basis for my interpretation of Taoism was very centred on the three treasures in chapter 67 of the Tao Te Ching, compassion, humility, moderation and chapter 8 and 78 (giving brief summaries of each position) how they tied and how the journey was very internal, that one was not compassioante becasue it was the right thing to do for persoanl gain, but becasue it became a part of who one was. And how that then linked into how we treat the world around us, if we live with moderation and humility as guiding principles then we do what we can to minimise what we do to the enviroment, we with comapssion automatically do what we can do to help those around us.
We talked for a long time, and her response to what she learned was deeply humbling, "i can't disagree with you i fidn it very welcoming to find someone who has a strong clear kind spiritual path, one which sticks closer to Jesus teaching than many Christians today do. "
To this lady i say again thank you for a truely nice suprising unplanned conversation.
There are many Taoist paths, some of them may well be called other things but the centre, core of Tao is there nonetheless.
love and peace
becca
WIDGETIZE
Anonymous # 10. April 2007, 22:26
What more is there to say?
Aalar :)
Anonymous # 11. April 2007, 04:23
I know what else: You lucked out *laugh*
Maybe it's U.S. Witnesses, but no encounter I can recall with them has been that pleasant. I should say for the sake of balance that the majority of them haven't been especially UNpleasant either, but I can't recall one ever pausing to hear what I might have to say.
Two I recall most clearly:
When I was about 10, two of them trapped my dad at the top of a ladder while he was painting the second-floor eaves of our house, and started preaching in spite of his increasingly loud protests that he was busy at the moment (Couldn't they see that? I mean, really now....). So, having failed to get rid of them politely, he started dripping bright blue paint. Lots of it. He never hit either one of them, but they didn't stay much longer.
I would have been about 17 when they came knocking at the home of a friend I was spending the day with. His mother answered, and upon being asked if she would pray with them, she said "Of course, if you'll pray with me, too." We hid in another room and watched with our hands clapped over our mouths to trap the laughter as his mom, a very old-school Roman Catholic, kept those two guys kneeling-standing-kneeling-standing for the next 15 minutes. I don't recall them showing up at their door again. :)
Becca James # 11. April 2007, 11:50
This lady was special though i mean i know peopel on many spiritual paths who just pay lip service to the teachings they claim to follow.... the lady really did follow the teaching if jesus, you could tell by her spirirt and her inner calm.
beccaxx
ps LOL about your dad and the paint.
Becca James # 11. April 2007, 11:51
indeed sometimes people can be very humbling, as this meeting was.
beccaxx
Anonymous # 11. April 2007, 20:07
I think what really struck me about the lady you encountered was her lack of being threatened by someone secure in a different belief. That's someone truly secure in her own.
Anonymous # 13. April 2007, 23:36
What a wonderful experience. I haven't had such luck unfortunately. I use to be a Mormon who actually went out and tried to convert people and I hated it. They teach you how to manipulate people. It sucked.
Now I'm a Buddhist/Taoist...go figure!! I don't have a problem with different beliefs as long as they respect mine. I like your blog.
Becca James # 14. April 2007, 12:16
Life sure does take some funny turns doesn't it
love and peace
becca