The Tao of Love and Fairytales

Nov. 4th, 2023

Taoists talk about the ‘path of least resistance’, to be like water. When the river flows and there are boulders and rocks and various other obstacles in the way, water simply moves around them or on top of them or underneath them, never stopping to fight them, never resisting them. It is flexible and flowing. When I was a teenager in my first relationship, I remember it sounded like simply falling in love and letting yourself be carried down the stream.

Two decades later, revisiting Taoism, I thought back to the flowing river water and I understood it in a different way this time. Something more akin to fairytales. When I was seventeen my takeaway was that Taoism was to simply go with the flow, to be flexible. But really the ‘path of least resistance’ is being true to your authentic self. The river doesn't judge itself as we do. It doesn't make a decision to like itself or not. And if it gets muddled or dirty, it's still happy to keep moving and having unconditional love for its authentic self. And I guess the difficult part for so many people is all about getting distracted and pulled away from the true authentic nature, away from that delicate deep integrity that we hold in our hearts.

In all the fairy tales the two counterparts go on on their separate journeys. They go through darkness or confusion and eventually truth and clarity. In the end, the true essence of that individual unfolds, recalling the childlike innocence and purity that connects them with their true selves, their authentic nature, that which makes them uniquely who they are.

Here is the full free episode of the ‘Tao of Love and Fairytales’…

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