Virtue

Deep in the mountains I from time to time happen upon high lakes hidden in between rocky precipices fed from on high by melting glaciers or filled from below by sparkling underground springs. The waters are clear and cold. Though my intellect tells me better on warm summer days I sometimes hunker down to put my lips to the surface and drinking deeply my soul is quenched as much as is my thirst. The stillness of those mountain lakes makes me hungry for the raging sea.

Going to the seaside I from time to time sit upon high cliffs watching the tides roll in and then roll back out again. The high summer waves are white-capped blue and restless as they hurl themselves against the craggy rocks below like a tireless fighter battering the eternal enemy of the soul. Should I run my tongue over my lips I can taste the salt from the ocean’s spray. The brine makes me thirsty for far away spring-fed mountain lakes.

If the water of that motionless lake is exceedingly still I can see myself reflected in it as I bend to drink. When the waters of the sea are calm I can see the world reflected in it. I sense the world as a set of ethical patterns by which I judge good and evil. I sense myself as a set of moral codes by which I am judged good and evil.

If I am full of virtue then the world too must be made of morality.

Like water I am weak and without substance. Like water, I am but a reflection of others to write what they will upon my being. By ever moving within the mystery like pelagic waters I am not this and never that. By keeping still within the mystery like those high glacier lakes I am all this and every part of that.

Drinking of the cold clear lake it becomes a part of me and me a part of it. I taste the minerals of the mountainside intermingling with the ancient newness of the fresh clean water. Alone and without purpose I understand the meaning of restoring my soul.

Discovering myself at the seaside I sit upon sandy pebbled beaches gazing out at the ocean as the surf caresses the shoreline below my feet in ceaseless waves that mirror my breathing. I close my eyes but the early summer sunshine reflecting off the water penetrates my eyelids. I witness a thousand spots of light dancing on the belly of a shimmering undulating beast.

When I open my eyes I see the water again. But I understand what I do not see is more important than what I do see. I realize the world I see is a representation of the mystery that I will never see. I am in the world without being part of the world.

Like seeks like.

This is the rule of heaven.

To stick my nose in the business of others is known as monopolizing. To talk of that in which no one is interested is called loquacity. To tell others of things pleasing to them is called sycophancy. To praise people without regard to right or wrong is called flattery. A fondness of pointing out the wickedness in others is called calumny. To drive a wedge between friends and family is called mischievousness. To color another in a false light is called depravity. Without regard to their being good or bad, to agree with another in a two-faced manner is called being dangerous.

These eight shortcomings produce chaos in the outer world as well as the inner self.

To attempt great things by changing long-standing traditions and so thereby obtain a great reputation among others is called ambition. To claim great wisdom and declare the work of others as one’s own is called greediness. To become aware of one’s shortcomings and yet refusing to change is called obstinacy. To disapprove of others even when one agrees with them is called boastful conceit.

These are four evils. When one can steer away from the eight shortcomings and maneuver around the four evils they begin to obtain the ability to be taught.

There was once a man who was frightened of his shadow and fearful of his own footsteps. He tried to walk away from them but his footsteps followed close behind and his shadow was ever at his side. He thought he was going too slowly so he began to run. His footsteps became ever more numerous and his shadow was still present. He ran as fast as he might for as long as he could until he finally fell down dead.

If this man had only had the good sense to sit under a shady tree his shadow would have disappeared and his footsteps cease. This man was excessively stupid. Looking around me I see many others who are like this man, people who have mastered the rules of giving and receiving. They define their likes and their dislikes. They harmonize anger and joy. Yet none of these people have escaped the troubles of the world. They spend their whole lives running faster and faster until they finally fall down and die.

I carefully cultivate virtue within myself. I guard my own true nature. I render onto others what is due them and so I escape the entanglements of the world. Those who prefer to make a practice of cultivating the virtue within others are tangled in misery with no chance for redemption.

The mystery has a heart and yet it does not beat. And so the mystery will last forever. The mystery breathes in and out and yet makes no motion. And so when my breathing becomes ragged the mystery comforts me. Knowing the mystery is to know stillness. Knowing stillness is to know virtue.

The world comes to me in a million bright shiny pieces that seem as if they should fit together somehow and yet they never do. I always end up with an extra piece here and a piece missing there. I finally decided these pieces of the world are not the world at all. They are representations of the world.

They describe the world but they are not the world.

The greatest virtue is to understand the mystery.

The source of experience is ethereal and subtle and yet within is representation. The mystery is undefined and vague and yet within is structure and form. That which comes before experience is diffuse and mysterious and yet within is the heart.

The heart is very real and therein lays conviction. From the very beginning until now the mystery has not been forgotten. Thus I understand the source as the creation of experience.

How do I understand the mystery?

Because I sit and I watch this unfolding moment.