The philosopher Lao Tzu noted that for anyone who can practice inaction perfectly, all things are possible. I understood better what this meant when I heard the following story:
There once was a man who seemed to mindlessly stare out the window all day while at work. After seeing this happen day in and day out, a co-worker became quite perturbed. Finally, the co-worker could not take it anymore and went to the owner to complain. He said to the owner, “All this guy does when he comes to work is stare out the window all day while the rest of us are hard at work. It’s unfair that he is getting paid for doing nothing.”
Much to the co-worker’s surprise, the owner replied, “Shush. Do not disturb him. Leave him alone.” The complaining worker was taken aback and confused by the owner’s response.
The owner went on to say, “The last time that guy stared out the window like that, he came up with an idea that helped this company make an extra million dollars. The last thing I want to see him doing is working.”
The gazing worker was activating his power of imagination. It was that inaction that Lao Tzu talked about where it looks like we are doing nothing, but this Presence called God is taking care of everything behind the scenes. In that space of non-action, we do not have to figure things out with the surface mind; we live in the realm of intuition, insight and imagination.
When we stand in the field of inspiration, we open ourselves up to the all-knowing Mind of Spirit. As one of the benefits of practicing stillness and silence, it is that place where real thinking takes place. In the Japanese culture, the word kamkuru means to return to the realm of God; that place of real thinking, inspiration and the origin of creation. Every day, we have the opportunity to go to the origin of creation and allow these spiritual ideas to carry us into realms beyond our wildest imaginings, previous history or anything that has ever been done before. This is inspiration.
We are here to ratchet up our consciousness so that we are living in that zone where the perspiration that comes from figuring things out diminishes, the insight from inspiration increases and we know something without any process of reasoning. It’s not about acquiring or absorbing anything; it’s about releasing the blockages that are stopping the flow of God from coming through. All we need to do is eliminate the false perceptions about life and allow God to be God as us.
Peace and Blessings,
James