The Power of Mindfulness and Meditation: Cultivating Self-Awareness for a Balanced Life
Mindfulness and meditation are powerful practices that can enhance self-awareness, reduce stress, and bring balance to our lives. By paying attention to the present moment and observing our thoughts and emotions without judgment, we can cultivate a deeper understanding of ourselves and make wiser choices. In this blog post, we will explore the benefits of mindfulness and meditation, and how they can transform our lives.
Understanding Mindfulness and its Role in Self-Awareness:
Mindfulness is the act of paying attention, on purpose, to the present moment without judgment.
It helps us balance our true self and ego, enabling us to manage our minds and make conscious choices.
Mindfulness can be practiced anywhere and at any time, not just during meditation sessions.
The Relationship Between Meditation and Self-Awareness
Meditation is a transcendental process that facilitates self-awareness and a connection with our true selves.
It allows us to observe our minds without reacting and expands our ability to remain present and mindful in daily life.
Through meditation, we learn to become detached from our ego-driven thoughts and develop a state of non-reactivity.
The Importance of Mindfulness in Real-Life Situations:
Cultivating the Tao (the way) involves practicing mindfulness in the material world, embracing its challenges and messiness.
It’s good to practice being self-aware and mindful in noisy, busy, and distracting places. Don’t avoid them [these types of places] to cultivate this skill. If you can stay present and awake in crazy situations, you will find that it is when you need it most.
By applying mindfulness to our problems and experiences, we learn valuable lessons and make better choices.
Mindfulness empowers us to step back from destructive reactions and make decisions from a place of wisdom.
Overcoming Emotional Reactivity through Mindfulness:
“The Tao of Longevity is a book that explores how to prevent and heal chronic diseases by following the ancient wisdom of Taoism. The author, Samuel E Beasley, shares his personal journey of overcoming two chronic diseases that were caused by his unhealthy lifestyle habits. He explains how he discovered “the way” of Taoism, which is a philosophy and practice of living in harmony with nature and oneself. He also provides practical advice on how to adopt a Taoist lifestyle that leads to natural longevity and well-being. 🌱
Some of the topics covered in the book are: How to stop making bad choices that cause chronic disease and how to take control of your life and destiny.
How to cultivate a calm and disciplined mind that can make the right choices and stop self-destructive behaviors.
How to nourish your body with natural foods and herbs that support your health and vitality.
How to exercise your body with gentle and effective movements that enhance your energy and immunity.
How to balance your emotions and cultivate positive feelings that enrich your life and relationships.
How to connect with your spirit and discover your true purpose and meaning in life.
The book is based on the author’s personal experience and research, as well as the teachings of Taoist masters and sages. It is written in a simple and engaging style, with anecdotes, examples, and exercises. The book aims to inspire and empower readers to transform their lives and achieve a long life of well-being. 🙌
I hope this summary gives you an idea of what the book is about. If you are interested in reading the book, you can find it on Barnes & Noble, Goodreads, ThriftBooks, Amazon, or other online platforms. You can also follow the author’s Facebook page for more updates and information. 😊 If you have any other questions or requests, please let me know. I can also generate creative content
Self-Care: Devotion to longevity through regular steps to restore and preserve well-being both internally and externally.
What is your idea of self-care? Is it binge-watching TV after a hard day? Is it eating “high calorie, low nutrition junk food after a long day of drama? Maybe, if you are lucky, you realize it’s not the right path and are searching for answers. Chapter 33 in the book discusses this important lifestyle routine to stay on the better, enjoy life, and stay on the longevity path.
There are many chapters on bringing about harmony, the foundation for well-being. The Tao Te Ching has many lessons for avoiding the things that cause stress, drama, anxiety, and the seduction of desire (ego). Five sections of The Tao of Longevity book will guide you in understanding how to take care of your “self” along your life’s journey and avoid the suffering brought about by following the path of distraction being dominated by the ego (self).
Meditation is the highest level of self-care because it is the means of transcending the distracted state in which we make our worst choices. Bad choices, often made while coping and distracted, have the karmic effect of evolving into a state of suffering, which is the opposite of well-being. Self-care is the action of preventing, restoring, and maintaining a high state of harmony and balance through the everyday choices we all make each day. So many of us are necessarily distracted and do not even notice what we are doing and what impact it will have on life, so it is important to wake up and pay attention to what we are doing and why. This is the function of meditation and mindfulness.
Once you are “self-aware,” you can head off the not-smart choices and choose things that will bring about the conditions for feeling really good as a normal state of being.
So…how well are you taking care of your “self”? Ready to take charge of your life path and find that place where you honestly feel and think “life is good”?
This image shows different images of the same jar. One is with the mud and water disturbed and murky, the other image shows the mud settled to the bottom and clear water above which is reflective of what happens to the mind when one sits in meditation. Murky water is a metaphor of an anxious mind which is represented by the jar on the left. The other represents a mind that is still and has clarity (oneness with the Tao).
If you missed The Tao of Oneness Part One, go here
Part Two of this Chapter (the middle part) indicates what happens without oneness.
The sky, lacking clarity, would break apart
The earth, lacking tranquility, would erupt
The gods, lacking divinity, would vanish
The valley, lacking abundance, would wither
Myriad things, lacking life, would be extinct
The rulers, lacking standard, would be toppled.
Verses 9-14, Chapter 39, Tao Te Ching
Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching translated and annotated by Derek Lin.
When the weather is stormy, the skies are cloudy and not clear. When our minds have stormy weather, our choices and decisions lead to negative results.
When the earth erupts, it can be like a volcanic eruption, which is a good example of what happens when people lose their temper. Anger and violence create cataclysmic mistakes and create tensions, strife, violence, and devastation.
When spirituality is put aside or forgotten, a person loses the benefits that come with it, such as wisdom, discipline, and faith. When cultivation stops, we become vulnerable to mistakes and consequences.
When the valley and the river that provide nutrients (abundance) dry up, all those living things that are dependent on it begin to wither away.
When the myriad of living creatures lacks vital life energy and die off, which leads to extinction. In a more modern and personal context, this means health. Without oneness, health declines and will lead to death.
When rulers lack the world standard (being a good example), people no longer listen to or follow them. They are no longer looked up to or can be seen as someone to follow as a source of advice, and they lack credibility. Without oneness, they become irrelevant. loss of oneness leads to as reflected in the sky, earth, divinity, fertile valley, life, and leadership:
A lack of clarity (being clear-minded and having understanding).
Cataclysmic results interrupt well-being and bring about suffering.
Spirituality (divineness) begins to erode and disappear, which leads to the emptiness of purpose and spiritually void and empty. (Ego will fill the void).
A lack of abundance in its many examples. Quality of life withers, and suffering fills the void.
Loss of health and well-being. Atrophy sets in, and unless it is turned around will lead to death.
With rejection and loss of natural leadership. You become irrelevant at best, and no one will see you as someone to follow or listen to because of such an inferior performance.
In summary, these reflections of existence deteriorate.
The benefits of oneness:
Clarity
Tranquility
Divinity (Spirituality)
Abundance
Physical Life and Health
Leadership
The consequences of not having oneness:
Unclear judgment and thinking
Destruction and life coming apart in disintegrating fragments
Being controlled by ego and its emotions
Poor health leads to death
Becoming an example of failure in life (how to not live life)
You can see the importance of Oneness. So, what is Oneness?
Answering this question requires examination from three aspects. Unity, Connectivity, and the One True Path.
Unity. Unity begins with the perspective of bringing the unity of all things into one reality. On the largest scale, this would be the universe and everything in it as one collective. Oneness of the Tao begins on a personal level that is relevant because our lives reflect all other aspects of the Tao. It’s a pattern that you will recognize.
For example, we can see that the universe is not empty but filled with stars, gases, planets, and other elements. It is a collection in a working system that is thought to begin with the big bang.
A reflection of that system is the human body. We are a universe contained within our physical bodies. We have many different elements from the skeletal bone structure down to the microscopic cells that keep us alive. We even have life forms living in symbiosis within our gut. From large down to small it is a living system, a collective that works in harmony with natural law, the Tao. Taken to an even smaller level, such as microscopic, atomic, and quantum, the same pattern is seen. It is a collective of many parts that is unified and inseparable.
Connectivity. Another perspective is to see oneness as the connectivity between us as a people. Collectively we are one, yet despite being individuals we are all connected. The perspective of being separated from everyone else is an illusion that is opposite from Oneness. This [illusion] or desire to be separated from everyone else leads to division and separation. Lack of unity and divisiveness creates strife and conflict. Unity opens the way for cooperative harmony. Unity is Oneness. Reasonable people will see this to be true on every level beginning with everyone in your neighborhood, in your town, in your state, in your country, and especially throughout the world. Together we have Oneness. When as a world society we develop Harmony, prosperity, and well-being follow. When we have disparity and disharmony between societies, we have war, famine, and large-scale suffering. There is Harmony when people ascend the ego mind. There is disharmony when people are prisoners of their egos. Those who find their true path, join with others who are where unity brings widescale well-being. When ego-centric people collectively follow their own self-destructive paths there is widescale suffering.
The third aspect of Oneness is the One True Path which is a rich topic and is revealed in detail in Part Two of the Oneness Feature. This post is just a paraphrase of Derek Lin’s Lecture on Oneness. This has been just a brief report on what he goes into detail about. Here are the links to the lectures that this lesson is sourced from. I invite you to watch and listen to the in-depth translation and explanation of this especially important Tao principle.
Part Three
(The Third Part of the chapter on Oneness) How to Attain it.
The Tao of Oneness – Finding the One True Path
Therefore, the honored uses the lowly as basis
The higher uses the lower as foundation
Thus, the rulers call themselves alone, bereft, and unworthy
Is this not using the lowly as basis? Is it not so?
Therefore, the ultimate honor is no honor
Do no wish to be shiny like jade
Be dull like rocks
Verses 15-21, Chapter 39, Tao Te Ching
The One True Path.
Left the muddy water represents a turbid mind. Right is a settled mind that has clarity. The sediment has dropped away through tranquility and stillness.
Parts One and Two ended with two of the three aspects of Oneness. They were Unity and Connectedness. The third aspect of Oneness with the Tao is finding and staying on the One True Path to attain oneness. Attaining oneness is to gain:
Robust life energy (Qi) to maintain and enjoy life
Sought out by others due to success (example for others)
The One True Path is the one that is unified with Tao teachings. It is the one that creates, sustains, and promotes successful living. The Tao, also known as “The Way,” is the one true path. This aspect of how to be on the One Path is something that most people will not recognize with a skilled teacher points out the intentions of Lao Tzu. Which path is the true one? You must seek that answer by finding clarity. As mentioned above, you must do this yourself. It happens through practice, trial, and error. This is what cultivation is. How do you know if you are being successful? Karma is your judge by enacting cause and effect. You will know when life becomes simpler and better. You will know when your spirit is right (clarity), and your heart is tranquil. You will know when the people around you start to notice and want to mirror what you do and have.
The True Path is the most optimal and beneficial. When you sit and contemplate this you can get a sense of which way to go; which path to take. In those moments of choice when destiny awaits, you step forth carefully with wisdom.
Your true path is unique to you. Of the many choices, only one is the true one, the most optimal. Tao cultivators have learned that the Tao teachings reveal which path, is right and which is wrong. This one true path is that which has Oneness with the Tao and not the distracted side paths of the ego.
Here are some steps for finding and attaining Oneness with the Tao. This section is characterized by the virtue of Humility.
Humility becomes the way to self-honesty. With self-honesty, you can take ownership of your faults and change your ways. As you contemplate what this all means to you, ask yourself what you need to master to attain Oneness? What is it you will commit to? What speaks to you in such a way that you are willing to invest in and stick with for the long term. It is writing this book and sharing what I learn through blogging. I do this because I have seen it work in my life. This can be one of your most important decisions, so think carefully before vowing and committing to it.
As you consider this be truthful with your self-talk. What are you holding in your heart and mind? What is the underlying intention behind your consideration? Your motivation should come from a place of gratitude. Solid intention and a foundation of gratitude are necessary parts of the recipe for Oneness to work.
These two virtues will empower and motivate you to action, which is the next step in the process. As you experience the benefits of Oneness, the feeling of gratitude will join with the intention to share what you found with others. As you gain clarity and tranquility, Oneness arises. As you begin to master Oneness, you will look back at the past with a feeling of never wanting to repeat the lack of vision, the instability, the spiritual awakening, the lack of abundance, and the lack of leadership amongst your peers. Naturally, having transcended that, you will feel grateful for your newfound wisdom. As you begin to attain Oneness, others will notice your success. They will want to know the secret, and you naturally attain leadership by request.
Then you will gladly take the next steps because you know how effective they are, and you want others to receive the same benefits. These actions become second nature and will compound over time, leading to a mastery of life.
The Protocol steps and levels listed above are:
Commitment,
Intention,
Gratitude,
Actions,
Mastery
There is an alchemy of bringing these spiritual ingredients together in such a way that the sum is greater than the individual parts. The result is Oneness and the One True Path. For true results, practice this every day until it becomes second nature over time. Be patient and remember why you committed to the process.
With Humility in your heart, you start over and begin taking small steps following the protocol above. Begin and build from the ground up so that you have a strong foundation. Make a commitment to yourself to finish what you start and do a good job. Success at this commitment will help you develop the right intention where you realize a sense of true gratitude about being able to improve your well-being, quality of life and longevity. With gratitude you take actions with courage and confidence because you know that the process works through experience. After a time of success, you will realize that are ascending toward Mastery. With mastery, comes the natural leadership for those who want to know how you do it. With Humility as your foundation, you will not let ego go to your head and stray from the path.
Know that you will have setbacks which are inevitable in training, so know what to do when it happens. Meditation and mindfulness are the self-management skills to deal with those days when can’t hold Oneness. When you can become aware of your cloudy and turbid mind you can find the Clarity and Tranquility that you need through meditation. Mindfulness practice helps you to pay attention and notice the moments when you have a lack of Clarity, and the mind is not tranquil.
When you lose your feeling of gratitude due to the inevitable times when the challenges of life temporarily distract us from our higher self. In those times you can step back (mentally) and remember those times in your life where you were experiencing life with contentment and joy.
Remember those things that you have experienced and are grateful for. Look at some photos of time where you were really enjoying life.
Remember how as you attained Clarity in other areas how it brought more success and joy to life.
Think of people who love you
Think of people who you love and enjoy spending your life with
Take some self-time to enjoy a moment in life again.
Look at all you have accomplished through Oneness up to this point.
Be humble and recognize the fault and resolve to do better.
Summary: Oneness is a powerful Tao Virtue that will improve every aspect of life that you practice it in. As stated in the beginning of this chapter, Oneness is reflected in every aspect of life, especially in spiritual longevity. Spiritual Longevity opens the way for Physical Longevity.
Cultivate Oneness through Meditation, Mindfulness, and Spiritual Cultivation.
Through Tranquility and Clarity, discover your true self and your true path.
Let humility and gratitude be the foundation virtue and guide for attaining Oneness
By adhering to and following your true path, you will transform your life by reducing suffering and achieving Well-being and Longevity.
For a deeper insight into Oneness, watch the original lecture from Tao Teach Derek Lin.
I define Meditation as a transcendent state of being. Transcendence is to exist and experience clear of, beyond, or above the physical realm. Even more to the point, Meditation cultivates the ability to transcend the ego mind which often dominates the physical world. To cultivate Longevity, a person must rise above the ego-self and take charge of life. Another way of seeing Transcendence is to understand it awaken from the ego self and go beyond, rise above into the True Self.
Self
The first principle to consider is to wake up and recognize the duality of consciousness and mind, and then to transcend it. Let us begin with a rudimentary definition of the word “self”. In the interactive physical realm ego sense of self is often reflected in the word “me”.
This term is useful and necessary in modern-day syntax for effective communication. We use it multiple times a day, every day. As a language tool, the word “me” is used by a person to refer to themselves. As you can see the word “self” is woven into our way of speech and is indispensable. Also referring to one’s self in the grammatical sense is “I” which denotes who is “doing” or “being”. “Me” denotes the object of a verb and is used when the speaker is the receiver of something. See if you can notice how many times a day and in the context, you use the words Me, I, and Self while communicating with others.
The next perspective to consider is the metaphysical or spiritual one. In this view, both “I” and “me” refer to the ego through its sense of “self-awareness” which is almost reflected through cravings and desire. Examples:
“What about me?” Or “what about mine”
“I need that” or “I want that” and “I must have that to be happy”
The Duality of Self
All things in the Tao follow the Yin Yang duality. The duality of self is in the broader sense The spiritual eternal self and the physical self. The Spirit Self or True Self is the eternal soul, and the Physical self is the entity you identify with and experience life in the physical realm. The Physical self is also The spiritual self that does not think in language so the subject pronoun is not relevant. In the physical realm, the physical self is binary. Physical spirit is a reflection of the eternal spirit (True-Self) a forms duality with the ego-self. Think of Yin (physical spirit harmonizing in the physical realm with the ego-self. When a person has not yet transcended, they mostly experience life through the ego self with Ying following Yang which is how most people identify. Being “me” is all they know. Right now, you may be coming to this realization.
According to Tao Tzu, only one in ten people are successful in life. These are the awakened ones who follow the true path. The rest, nine out ten, suffer and die too soon. These are the ones who have not awakened yet and their ego self is causing failure in life. The one in ten he speaks of have transcended the ego and have attained Sovereignty. Sovereignty is the virtue of ruling over your life with wisdom and clarity.
Transcendence
Transcendence is the process of awakening from the prison of the ego. The ego and its associated mind link form a multiplex of subroutines or personalities that form this illusionary identity. The ego is a mental entity that creates the illusion. This self-created prison is the ego mind which traps the person through craving (desire) and fear. The illusion of prison is constructed by the inability to let go of attachments that arise from desire or fear. When we suffer, we look for ways to cope with emotional and physical pain. These coping measures become habits and addictions which lead to more suffering. Yet we cannot let go because we fear we will lose, and we desire more of it to stop the suffering. It often creates a downward spiral which becomes harder and harder to escape as time goes on. Since this is all that, you know, there appears to be no way out of the life of suffering. This is a big illusion. The illusion can be broken by awakening from this realistic dream state through meditation. The important thing is that every one of us has the potential to awaken and know the truth through meditation and transcendence.
Self-awareness – The True Self
Transcendence is an evolution of awakening:
Awakening – (rising above the thinking mind, the process of detaching)
Presence (Self-aware, present, fully in the now)
Oneness (Stillness, clarity, and unity with Tao)
Dissipation/Dispelling (of desire and emotion)
Harmony
Meditation is a Transcended state of being (awareness) where through observation there becomes a distinction between consciousness and mind. This is a subject-object view where the observer is the subject, and the mind is the object. Who is this observer that is separate from the mind? It is the true self or soul that is eternal and all-knowing. The realization of this is the transcendence of waking up from pure ego being to spiritual being. When awakened (transcended) one is self-aware. This is to say, that the true self is detached and observing recognizing that there is much to life than the singular egoic view of life. Of the two parts of the physical self, it is the physical spiritual self that is unified with the true self (soul). The True Self shines through the physical true self and manages life. This is sovereignty and the only way to manage the ego.
The Ego.
The Ego is a mental entity. It evolved with our species as we grew more sophisticated and learned how to survive in a harsh environment. It is the aspect of mind and self that takes care of “me”. It is crafty, smart, tenacious, and narcissistic. Unlike other religions that direct a person towards enlightenment by annihilating the ego, the Taoist approach is one of management recognizing that completely ridding oneself of ego is both impossible and extreme. Arguably the ego must be managed yet sometimes it can bring forth something that the true self can use. The ego is attached to emotion which can be problematic therefore, transcendence from it being the sole identity is the way to break free of emotional attachments. For the person, possibly you the reader, the ego is all that you know. This means you identify with the ego and all its attachments, desires, and dark emotions. Yet most people have a moment from time to time where a subtle wise whisper suggests the higher path. Part of the wise self will get through, if only for a moment, and in that pause, the true self is rising above, and you are awakening. But then, without training, most will slip back into the world of ego and be lost again for some period of time, suffering, and not knowing how to escape.
Transcendence is the waking of the True Self. This awakened state is known as self-awareness. As you begin to awaken to the realization that you are and always have been a spiritual being having a physical experience so does the possibility of escaping. The prison disappears and you, your true essence is free to construct and manage a successful life. In meditation, thoughts become objects to be observed in a detached non-reactive manner. It is in the stillness or emptiness of thought where oneness with the Tao is discovered. With oneness, you will gain clarity and enlightenment. It is in the stillness that becomes the source of clarity. Clarity is the truth of reality. Enlightenment in this context is the end of self-caused suffering
There are three meditations recommended for the process of awakening and cultivating self-awareness and sovereignty (discipline over the ego).
Transcendence Meditation (Mantra or Breath)
Mindfulness Meditation (detached observation of the mind)
Contemplative Meditation (detached self-discovery and reflection)
There are many other types of meditation, these three are what I advised for cultivating self-awareness, sovereignty, and enlightenment. You can find instructors for these in many places. It is your job to find the teacher and begin the process of learning and cultivating.
Self-awareness is a state of being that is apart from or above the duality of mind and ego. Both the physical spirit self and the ego self mold and shape the mind. It is the illusion that you are the mind is the state that you awaken from. In self-awareness, you become aware of the ego and its influence over the mind and thus life. From the perspective of self-awareness, you can control your destiny through choices the wisdom of the true self makes and ignore the always insistence needy whiny ego. These choices directly affect the destiny of longevity and the quality of present life.
Self-awareness takes cultivation. There is the initial awakening from which most people will fall back asleep with the illusion of ego life. To make it stick takes practice and repetition to get strong and stronger at staying awake, aware, and detached. Through practice, your skill gets stronger and stronger which means that you begin to remain longer and longer in the awakened state. As this happens life begins to change in the most amazing and wonderful ways.
See Stillness Meditation in the Meditation Section
The True Self (Living Spirit) and the True Path.
The Way of longevity is one the being on the true path. What is the true self and the true path? The true self is the transcended sense of self that is awakened and aware. In the diagram above it is called the living spirit. I follow the perspective that in the physical realm and physical life experience these two aspects. Physical spirit self and ego mind self. The living spirit is the avatar of the soul for experiencing physical life. This is the meaning of the saying, “a spiritual being having a physical experience”.
Through meditation and transcendence, the physical living spirit awakens and takes charge of life which is the Tao principle of Sovereignty. In the diagram above you can see that the living spirit holds a larger presence than the ego-self. This is the true self. The ego is a mental entity that evolved with us as we evolved as primates into modern humans. It is a survival mechanism that has helped us to endure. Yet it is also the troublemaker that must be managed. You may have lived your whole life only identifying as ego. If, however, while reading this you realize that there is this better self, then you are beginning to identify as the true self, spirit. Meditation is the way of rising above ego and with practice, there is a place of harmony where the two work together to become a much higher being.
Sovereignty, a key virtue of the True Self, is the spiritual discipline that rules the physical life and manages the ego. Through Sovereignty, harmony between the true self and ego is attained. Rather than annihilate the ego, a balance is achieved between the aspects of self. This balance creates the harmonious synergy that is reflected by a sense of well-being, thriving, and success. This is the true path.
How do you know if you are on the true path? Here are a few questions to consider. Be honest and accurate.
How satisfied or dissatisfied with your life?
Is your life characterized by a sense of well-being?
Are you healthy?
Do you have a self-cause chronic disease?
Are you passionate about your life’s work?
Is your career/job fun, rewarding, and fulfilling on many levels? Or is do you hate your job, feel stuck, and deeply wish you were not there?
How often do you feel stress and anxiety due to influences that seem out of your control?
How often do you feel content with your life?
What do you do when you are not at your job? Are you involved in other activities that you enjoy and serve others? Or are you coping with stress by overindulgence
How often do you feel a sense of contentment, spontaneity and joy at life’s wonderful surprises? Or how often do you feel a sense of self-loathing, disgust, unworthiness, or despair?
What type of people do you seem to attract in your life? People, who seem happy and easy to laugh and smile? Or are you mostly surrounded by people who don’t care, take advantage of you, or are always being disrespectful, moody, and filled with drama?
Do you often feel lucky, grateful, and blessed? Or do you feel unlucky, resentful, and never have enough of that which you desire most?
How often do you look to the heavens and ask, “why me”?
Are you always struggling financially? Or does there somehow always seem to be enough money to live with contentment?
If you answered most of these questions with an honest positive reflection, then you are experiencing life as the true self, on your true path. You are getting the most out of life’s journey and on a good trajectory for longevity. You can even reach a higher level by following the teachings of the way along with others who found success.
If like so many others in our society, you felt in truth, negative affirmations about the conditions of your life, then you are still unawakened, still lost, and under the control of the ego mind. This is the path of self-destruction and distraction is an active element in keeping you there on the path of suffering.
The more that your choices are guided by wisdom the more successful you become at life. As discussed in the chapter The Tao of Virtue choice, virtue and karma create destiny. By accumulating virtue, you develop an extraordinary wisdom for staying on the longevity path. The way of virtue (The Tao of Virtue) becomes the way you deal with life in a moment-by-moment, day-by-day means of crafting your life by controlling ego and making wise choices that keep you on the path of longevity. As you craft your life plan, you make the changes through lifestyle choices.
It is only through self-awareness can you attain the Tao and make the Alchemy of Qigong work. Qigong is the next section on cultivating life. The alchemy is the process of changing something ordinary into something extraordinary. It comes down to the point of whether you can control the ego and through a meditative focus practice the Qigong principles for the magic to happen. It will happen. All you must do is consciously align your way of life with the way of the universe (Tao) and the results will manifest as intended. This is the Tao of Transcendence and the Tao of Longevity.
Finally, you must learn to incorporate the Tao of Longevity into a Lifestyle for Longevity. Later you will learn much about how Desire, Coping, and Indolence fueled by the ego are ruining your chances for that long-satisfied authentic life that awaits you, the true self.
There are several definitions for the word Alchemy. The most common is the process that has been in various cultures around the world where there were attempts to transform common metals into gold. Throughout antiquity, there have been fountains of youth and elixirs of immortality. Still, there is another perspective and definition that we will be using here and that is:
“A power or process that changes or transforms something in a mysterious or impressive way”
Another word that might give a slightly different view is the modern “Synergy.”
Synergy is defined as an interaction or cooperation giving rise to a whole that is greater than the simple sum of its parts.
The internal alchemy of Qigong is the harmonizing of the Three Treasures of Qigong to create and sustain the flame of life
Harmony is not just a feel-good word. It is certainly not a cliché as it is often used in modern culture, especially in the western hemisphere. Harmony is a creative force that gets released when certain elements and their relationship to each other come into balance. In Tai Chi there is a saying, “Tai Chi happens where Yin and Yang come into balance. The state of your longevity at any given time is a reflection of your inner harmony. Physical harmony reflects your spiritual harmony. When spiritual elements come into cooperative harmony with each other and everything is exactly right, creative energy is released.
Here is an example. We all know about fire. We all have a basic idea of how a flame is created by combining three elements: heat, oxygen, and fuel.
There must be suitable fuel.
There must be enough heat so that the fuel ignites.
There must be enough oxygen to enable the heat and fuel to ignite.
The flame of fire will only ignite if the conditions between the three elements are exactly right. If the fuel is not exactly right, being too wet, then no flame. If there is not enough heat to ignite the fuel, there is no flame. If there is not enough oxygen for the fuel to ignite, there is no flame.
But when these conditions become exactly right, then you have convergence which ignites the flame. The term “just right” signifies the ignition point created in the harmonious balance of the three conditions. Harmony is an enormously powerful creative force in nature.
Another example could be observed through listening. Imagine a group of musicians with different instruments. Each instrument can make sounds that have the potential to sound pleasing. Each instrument must have its own harmony. It must be in good working order. It must be tuned in such a way as to make a pleasing sound. It must be operated in such a way to sound pleasing. This is brought together by the musician who cultivates the ability to play the instrument in a pleasing way.
When the musician brings the instrument and joins with others, they must all cultivate the ability to play at the same time to create something that sounds pleasing. If they each have the wrong rhythm, it is uncoordinated with the rest and not pleasing.
If each of them plays sounds not in harmony with the others, it is disharmonious and not pleasing. If they are not playing the same notes, it is disharmonious and not pleasing. But when they play the same notes, all coordinated, and in harmony, something special happens. They create music that is very pleasing to listen to. Music is synonymous with ‘flame’. The basic elements come together in a harmonious way to create something more than the individual parts. Disharmony is noise, harmony is music. The pattern is just another fractal edge of the mysterious and unknowable Tao. You can observe this pattern all throughout nature.
Think of a cataclysmic storm such as a Hurricane or a Tornado. Elements of Air, Heat and Moisture come together. When and if the elements are just right, a storm of great power if formed. There is a great sustained energy released until the harmony becomes out of balance and it becomes dispelled, disappearing into blue clear skies.
On a cosmic scale, consider the big bang theory. The universe was in a hot dense state. When the elements become just right, Bang and everything we know came into existence. The universe is still the expansion part of its life cycle. Everything follows the Tao, even the universe, which will one day in the future will stop expanding and become so dispersed that it disappears like the storm. Slowly it will begin to collapse until it conditions become just right (in harmony) and bang! It will happen again.
Life follows the same cycle. The conditions of environment, sperm and egg find harmony and life is conceived. You can see it happen when a seed, water and light come together in harmony, and it sprouts. We are conceived, we live out our lives and then we die. If conditions stay just right the cycle will stretch out until it can go no further, and then it returns to its creative source.
Physical life is sustained through internal and external harmony. Our job as Tao cultivators is to support and sustain balance and harmony, first spiritually then outward physically. Internal Yin, balancing with external yang. Longevity happens where the two meet in Harmony.
Qigong is a synergetic phenomenon that cultivates and sustains the Flame of Life. Roughly translated, it means energy – cultivation. The “flame” in Qigong is life force-energy, or vital energy or Qi (chee). Another good description would be “vital energy” and “life-force energy”. For the newcomer, it is best to begin by bringing the three elements of “The Three Treasures” into harmony to produce a strong vital life force so that you nurture a robust vital force for the duration of a long life (Longevity).
Internal Alchemy, as the name implies, is the cultivation of the internal vital energy, Qi. When we are born, we come preloaded with robust vital energy and the ability to continue producing it. This incredibly special life energy that we inherit from our parents is called prenatal Qi. The infant has an abundant amount of the original energy to carry it a long way in life. Yet it is extremely important to nurture and protect it. Once the umbilical cord is cut, the source of the prenatal energy is gone so the infant must protect its original energy and immediately begin producing its own. This self-made energy is called post-Natal Qi.
The miracle of birth includes the miracle of energy production. All living lifeforms have this aspect of life, of being born already preloaded with internal instruction and the ability to adapt to the environment it finds itself in. This is enough for most non-human lifeforms because they have not evolved to a point where they self-destruct.
In United States and other countries around the world have something called a “seed vault”. In these vaults, seeds are collected and stored in case of a doom’s day scenario happens and there is a need to start agriculture over again. The interesting thing is that seeds can be stored for years. These seeds can be planted again in some future date. Like the candle of life, all they need is harmonious conditions to come alive and sprout. Seeds need three basic elements for their alchemy to activate their inherent Qi to mobilize and begin growth. There must be suitable soil, suitable temperature, and adequate moisture. When they are just right something wonderful begins to happen. They begin to have life. A small acorn from an oak tree can lay dormant for a long time, then activated it can grow into a huge three that will become an eco-zone giving shelter to animals and birds, food for wildlife and building material for humans. The same principle is already at work in your body. You must keep the “just right” conditions in harmony and balance for the life force energy, Qi, to keep your body alive so that your spirit can continue to experience life.
The effort for cultivating the internal alchemy is to harness the creative energy of the Tao in the form of Qi. The intention of the Qigong practitioner is to take what was given and conserve it with all their ability. Qigong uses the natural [principle of life energy to sustain your flame of life, physical consciousness. It is quite simple. Stop interfering with the life process and create a harmonious relationship with nature which is a manifestation of the Tao.
Humans have a choice. They can choose to embrace the alchemy of life, or they can embrace the self-destructive ways of the ego. One is the way of death, and one is the way of life.
The Tao of Longevity 