The Power of Accordance with the Way

-

If you’re familiar with Taoism, you have a sense of the Way. The universe displays regular patterns and unfolds in an orderly way. Some even think it imbued with intelligence—unknowable though it may be. Nonetheless, when we act in accordance with these patterns and principles, things flow smoothly. When we act contrary to the Way, our efforts proceed with difficulty.

When we plant in the spring and harvest in the fall, we’re living in accord with the Way. If we plant in the winter, we have problems. We must build a greenhouse, which requires more work. If we try to plant in spring and harvest in summer, we have problems. Many plants require more time to mature.


Yin Yang symbol on No Justice, No Peace backdrop

Natural processes are not the only ones subject to the Way. Our very human activities can also be in accord with the Way or not. A very insightful and creative person might present an idea in a work meeting only to have it shot down immediately for any number of reasons. But then, after the team has struggled with every other proposed solution, that same idea might be met with unanimous approval and be brought to fruition without difficulty. The time wasn’t right before. The minds of the team members weren’t receptive. Not everyone understood the nature of the project as did the original presenter of the idea.

In The Tipping Point, Malcolm Gladwell posits that once 10% of a population strongly believes in something, most of the rest of society will eventually follow suit. Thus, solving a social problem can be a bit like finding the right point on which to apply the hammer and chisel in order to split apart a boulder. We may hammer away until we’re blue in the face trying to effect change, but if we aren’t able to discern a point of cleavage—if society at large is not receptive to finding a solution, for instance—then those calls will go unheeded. However, if the time is right, and the requisite numbers are indeed receptive, then a proposed new way of being may positively reverberate throughout society—cracking open wide the problem that had once seemed intractable.

I do not profess to know with intimacy the workings of the Way. However, I do fancy myself a keen observer, and so I have some thoughts. In Power, Nature, and Human Relationships, I stated:

[W]e might discern two important values by observing the natural order [the Way]:

1. The value of increasing the diversity of life.

2. The value of furthering the actualization of any individual lifeform or species.

These two exist in dynamic tension, and an appropriate balance between them is optimal. We may not be able to understand the deepest workings of the Way, but we can see these values revealed while watching natural process unfold.

Our current administration does not appear to be proceeding in accordance with the Way. Yes, power is being wielded to an incredible degree. But it is being wielded at great cost, and with little to no gain—not even for the White majority which this administration seems to value most. Our infrastructure of innovation is being eviscerated. Our ability to respond to future disasters, pandemics, disease, and starvation is being dismantled. Families are being separated and thrown into poverty. Wealth is evaporating. Jobs are being lost. Careers are being derailed. Chaos, cruelty, and suffering have been unleashed. But what is being gained?

The Way can be worked against for a time, and only for a time, but not without cost. Perhaps we can take comfort in this, at least with respect to knowing that this current social experiment cannot continue indefinitely. We can also take comfort in knowing that, once we begin to work together in accordance with the Way, great power will be unleashed and immense benefit will result.  


Power, Practice, and Peace logo


This post is in the Power, Practice, and Peace series.

Find a running list of all posts in this series by clicking here.

       

Images

Yin Yang symbol by Gregory Maxwell, in public domain, via:

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Yin_yang.svg

No Justice, No Peace backdrop courtesy of the author.

 

Copyright 2025 by Mark Robert Frank

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

That Which We Already Know: Introduction

-
Image
From That Which We Already Know . This passage is the introduction to my forthcoming book: The back gate of the very first home I ever knew opened onto a tract of land that I’ll not forget for as long as I may live. Ostensibly, it served as the nursery for nearby Gerhardt Gardens. By the time I arrived on the scene, however, the various plots of shrubs and saplings had become so overgrown as to seem more like wilderness to the child that I was. If not exactly wilderness, it was a crazy quilt of different habitats stitched together and overlaid with whatever weeds, grasses, and woodland succession plants happened to have put down roots and begun working their way toward the sun. Notwithstanding its state of near abandonment, we still referred to those 20-odd acres of beautiful wildness as the Nursery. If nothing else, it was a nursery for young minds. Cover Artwork A well-worn path headed east from that gate, through a dark patch of woods squeezed between the corrugated steel fence of a...
Read more

That Which We Already Know

-
Image
  I’m so excited that this labor of love is coming to fruition! Final editing is underway. The beautiful cover artwork by Sophie Binder Designs is complete. I hope to have this book in your hands soon! That Which We Already Know  is about stillness of mind. Part childhood memoir, part spiritual enquiry, part psychological and philosophical exploration,  That Which We Already Know  paints a picture of our fall from grace and ultimate redemption via the recollection of childhood truth: that we arise in this world with an innate capacity to experience stillness. There is nothing for us to learn in this regard. We simply need ease our adopted selves out of the way in order to realize how very much we already know. That Which We Already Know  began as a flash of inspiration upon waking one morning. It seemed that in an instant I saw the arc of my life with perfect clarity. Raised Christian, I’ve been a practicing Zen Buddhist for nearly thirty years. This book recou...
Read more

A Buddhist Takes Communion / A Buddhist Take On Communion

-
Image
Then he took a loaf of bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And he did the same with the cup after supper, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” – Luke 22:19-20, NRSV   Yes, at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Buddhist-leaning readers to begin glazing over (What, is this going to be a sermon or something?), and at the risk of prompting the eyes of many Christian-leaning readers to narrow in suspicion (What does this Buddhist know about Christianity, anyway?), I’m going consider how the Lord’s Supper might appear if viewed through a Buddhist lens. In doing so I hope that Buddhist and Christian alike will glimpse something that leads to deeper spiritual understanding within each respective tradition.       Perhaps a little personal background will assuage your curiosity as to why I’m even con...
Read more