Tao Te Ching: Chapter 9 Commentary

This is part of a series examining the Tao Te Ching from an LDS, Christ-centered perspective.

Chapter 9 of the Tao Te Ching is about avoiding excess and withdrawing the self. 

Cup overfilled. Image here.

Holding a cup and overfilling it
Cannot be as good as stopping short
Pounding a blade and sharpening it
Cannot be kept for long 

Gold and jade fill up the room
No one is able to protect them
Wealth and position bring arrogance
And leave disasters upon oneself 

When achievement is completed, fame is attained
Withdraw oneself
This is the Tao of Heaven

Avoiding excess

The beginning of this chapter is about avoiding excess. Holding a cup in place too long will lead to it overflowing. You can only sharpen your blade for so long.

Once again, this is a suggestion to embrace the yin aspect: resting is the necessary counterpart of work. Trying to do the yang thing for too long is not just impossible (as in the case of endlessly pounding on the blade), it's unwise (as in the case of overfilling the cup).

Sharpening a blade. Image here.

The Christian scriptures teach the same thing, except in the context of the Sabbath. Both the people (Exodus 20: 8-10) and the land (Leviticus 25:4) have a Sabbath--with every period of work comes a rest.

Now, there's a rest every night: sleep counts as yin-time. But even on top of our daily rest, Christians and Jews are commanded Biblically to add in a full day out of seven to rest. In the case of the Shemitah, Jews were commanded to leave the land fallow one year out of seven, to allow the land to rest. The punishment for violation of this law was invasion and displacement from their land (Leviticus 26:34), so that their land could still enjoy her Sabbaths.

Now, the reference to the cup overflowing is an interesting one because in the Tao Te Ching it appears that an overflowing cup is a bad thing--wasteful and messy. In the Christian scriptures, a famous verse uses the same imagery to convey abundance (Psalms 23:5-6):

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.

Although those verses get a lot of play, cups and how full they are play other important roles in the Bible.


Mark 14:36

36 And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.

Luke 22:20:

20 Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you.

1 Corinthians 10:21:

21 Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.

Ezekiel 23:33:

33 Thou shalt be filled with drunkenness and sorrow, with the cup of astonishment and desolation, with the cup of thy sister Samaria.

Isaiah 51:22:

22 Thus saith thy Lord the Lord, and thy God that pleadeth the cause of his people, Behold, I have taken out of thine hand the cup of trembling, even the dregs of the cup of my fury; thou shalt no more drink it again:

Do a scripture search on the word "cup" and see what comes up. By and large, it seems that the references to cups in the scriptures more often refer to suffering than abundance--and stopping that suffering short seems like a good idea. I like how 1 Corinthians 10:21 explains that the cup reference can refer to both good and evil. An overflow from a good cup can mean abundance for all of one's days--but an overflow from a bad cup would never be a good thing. It is far better to stop short.

Withdraw oneself

Treasures of gold. Image here.

The other part of this chapter extols the virtue of withdrawing--or what Buddhists might refer to as giving up attachment.

No one can protect the gold and jade that fill up the room, this chapter explains; a Christian might phrase it this way (Matthew 6:19-20):

19 ¶Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 

 Chapter 9 goes on to counsel readers to avoid attachment to earthly things like wealth and position, because they only lead to pride and disasters--which completely fits with Christian teachings. Here is Proverbs 16:18:

18 Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.

And here is a list of scriptures that use the words "puffed up," a really interesting phrase for the word "pride." This chapter of the Tao Te Ching in essence cautions against being puffed up, because it only brings disaster on the self. Christianity tends to draw the focus of those disasters on the life to come--the idea that if you sin through pride you will end up paying for it in the eternities--but the Tao Te Ching seems to focus on the disastrous effects of pride in this life.

Conclusion

The Tao Te Ching supports periods of rest, and encourages the reader to "withdraw oneself" as a way of uniting with the Tao of Heaven. These concepts support and are supported by Christian scripture.

Prepare: obtain copper cups

I recently read an article about the antimicrobial, antiviral nature of copper surfaces. I already knew that silver was antimicrobial, but I had no idea about copper. It looks like scientists are still not sure why copper is so effective at killing viruses. But it apparently is.

One of our preps, I decided this morning, will be to obtain one handled copper mug per person in my group. The handle will make it so the cup can easily be secured to a belt loop or backpack strap--which reminds me that I should possibly stock up on carabiners.

Copper mugs do not need to be washed--you just rinse them out and dry them. So one mug per person would be perfect. They can keep the mug on their person and use it as needed. The one downside to copper is that it would get very hot if you poured something hot into it--but I believe the antiviral properties of the cup would outweigh that problem.


Copper mugs sell for about $20/mug on Amazon. All of these pictures here are affiliate links to appropriate cups, costing between $18 and $20/cup.

You want to be sure you are getting a mug that is 100% copper. Most of the mugs I am finding have food-grade lacquer on them, but you can get that off with lemon juice or dishsoap and scrubbing. This is one reason why the mugs are not dishwasher safe--the dishwasher gets the lacquer off! In a survival situation, you would want the straight copper, unmarred by lacquer. You want your water and hands to touch the straight up copper surfaces so that the copper can work its magic and take care of pathogens on your behalf.

I'm so glad I discovered this--I'd been thinking I should get some silver, but if copper works just as well, that's way more efficient. Silver costs multiple times more than copper, so if copper gets the job done, I'm good with that!

Food storage prep

In keeping with my focus on preparedness, here's a post about what I'm doing food-wise.

If things Get Bad, I'll have me and my husband, our two kids, my parents, my mom's parents, and likely a few friends and their kids. Overall, I'm planning on having to feed 8 adults and 4 children. Seven of these people have allergies to various common food products such as wheat, nuts, dairy, tomatoes, and so forth. Up until recently I have not been super gung-ho about my food storage, but lately I've been feeling like the pressure is ON! So we are storing food.

My big project right now has been to buy flour at my local Aldi (last week it was only 89 cents for five pounds of flour--today it was $1.29 for 5 lbs flour, but still a good deal). Then I come home and repackage it into 2L soda bottles. Allegedly, the flour can store in there for several years.

Preparing the soda bottles

I prepare my soda bottles for use with water or food storage by scalding them inside and out with very hot tap water, then adding a capful of bleach for a few minutes, shaking it up with hot water, and then draining it and letting it dry completely. I use the soda bottle's cap itself as the measuring device for the bleach so it cleans the inside of the cap as well.

I don't just use two-liter bottles; I also use used water bottles and my mom's Dr. Pepper bottles. The scald and the bleach remove any odors or germs, and then you're left with a container that can safely hold and waterproof about exactly 2 cups of rice. This is a little less than a pound of rice uncooked, which is about the bare minimum of rice a person would need to eat to keep themselves alive for one day in an emergency situation.

The bottles have to be utterly, completely, absolutely and totally dry before you use them. Here is a picture of me drying some bottles with a little bit of rice.

Adding the food


I went out and got a few more funnels today to use for this purpose. I use the funnels to get rice and flour and beans and so on into the 2L soda bottles. With flour, I also use a plastic spoon to kind of help unclog the spout of the funnel. With the rice, I've found the easiest way to get it into the bottle is to fill up the funnel as it is situated on top of the bottle, then use my [very clean] hand to tap the top of the funnel. With every tap, rice shakes free and down into the bottle. It takes a little while to fill up a bottle, but to me it is worth it.

Why this is worth it to me

1. Buying fancy canned flour seems like a waste when in my heart I feel that my personal family will need the flour in closer to 3 years than 30 years. 

2. The paper bags flour comes in are no protection against vermin or the elements. 2L soda bottles can be. Particularly if you dip the cap in wax afterwards or seal it with superglue. One guy I read about online said he'd recently eaten rice he'd stored this way over 15 years ago, and after, yes, FIFTEEN long years in a two-liter soda bottle, the rice cooked up perfectly and was virtually indistinguishable from fresh store rice.  

3. A soda bottle is the perfect size for carrying, for trade and barter, and for charity. If a starving person comes to me, it will be so much nicer to be able to give them a bottle of rice than to have to scoop out a scoopful of it from a giant 6-gallon bucket or something. 

Useful numbers

A 2L soda bottle holds 8.45 cups of whatever. This equals 3.4 pounds of rice, or 2.25 pounds of flour, or 4.25 pounds of water.

A 16.9-oz bottle holds about 2.25 cups of whatever. I just filled up a few of those with rice--each little bottle is enough rice for one person to live on for one day if he or she ate nothing else.

Baking mix

I also recently (this morning) decided to stop packing just plain flour, and instead pack baking mix. 6 cups of flour to 2 tbsp baking powder and 1 tbsp salt. Then you can just pour it out and mix it with the appropriate amount of reconstituted milk to bake biscuits.

Things to store

I plan on storing flour, baking mix, homemade muffin mix, rice, beans, and sugar this way, at a minimum. Now the big deal is finding enough bottles to use...

Dollar Store prep

So, regular readers know that I am into preparedness lately. I personally am preparing for worst case scenarios right now, and so I've been trying to write a little bit more about how I'm preparing that way.

Well, one way I've been preparing is by going to the dollar store.

I know, you say: ridiculous! Well, oh well.

Here is my reasoning:

If things ever get Bad, or "SHTF," as they say, money will be worthless and even gold and silver will be useless. Brigham Young has a lot to say about this in his Journal of Discourses. On page 250 he says, "The time will come that gold will hold no comparison in value to a bushel of wheat." On page 262, President Young mentions a friend's dream:

He dreamed that there was a sack of gold and a cat placed before him, and that he had the privilege of taking which he pleased, whereupon he took the cat, and walked off with her. Why did he take the cat in preference to the gold? Because he could eat the cat, but could not eat the gold. You may see about such times before you die.

Anyway, the point is, food and commodities will trump credit, cash, and even precious metals, hands down, in the case of an economic collapse.

I have yet to publish some of my drafted work on ebola, but one important thing to note is that we don't need an epidemic to destroy our economy. All we need is enough fear of an epidemic that makes people stay indoors. Can you even imagine? If the papers publish that there are, say, twelve cases of ebola in a certain city, it won't matter if the papers are correct; people will stay home out of fear of plague. With no one going into work, and no one delivering goods, it will only be a few days before things get crazy. Most people do not even store enough food and water for three days in an emergency situation. Try a 21-day quarantine period. Money will not matter then; having food and commodities is what will matter.

So, to get back to the point: the dollar store.

When I get a few random dollar bills now, I go spend them at the dollar store. This is a list of things I buy there and why.

- Gloves of all kinds. Winter gloves for warmth; vinyl and latex gloves for cleaning and dealing with possible contagious people. 

- Shower curtains. I was required to buy these for my homebirth, to spread on the bed underneath an old sheet. Dollar store shower curtains are waterproof and could be used to line beds or other surfaces that a sick person needed to use. Also, my research is indicating that you could use a dollar store shower curtain to line homemade menstrual pads if you had to make yourself some. Overall a useful product to have around in the case of a long-term emergency. 

- Sewing kits. Obviously being able to repair clothing and other textiles will be useful. Additionally, they could make great items for trade or charity. 

- Bleach. Cleanliness will be of utmost importance if our economy ever destabilizes. Also, ebola is killed by household bleach. 

- Candles. I initially had a hard time finding a better deal than those plain white candles that they also sell with Catholic saint pictures on them. I did find a better deal eventually on Amazon: 15 Hour Unscented White Emergency Votive Candles - 144 Bulk

Those may be the biggies I stock up on there. Another thing I get when it's there is chalk, but it's not consistently available.

I also stock up on water there, for better or worse. It seems if you're going to buy gallons of water, you can expect to spend at least $1/gal. Of course, you can always reuse your soda bottles to store water, but my family doesn't drink soda, so we usually end up just buying water for our home storage.

Do any of you stock up on commodities at the dollar store? What do you get and why?

Prepare your spirit

The most important part of emergency preparedness is spiritual.

Sermon on the Mount. Public domain.

We know this from the scriptures, but I was reminded of it during my first time checking in with the energy field of the Ebola virus. When I discovered that a belief blocking immunity to Ebola was "[Survival] is worse than death," I had the most sickening feeling to my body and my spirit as I felt what it would feel like to watch everyone around you die gruesome deaths. And I remembered Revelation 9:6:

6 And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

That is how I felt as I experienced what it feels like to live when everyone you love has died horrific deaths. I realized: dying gracefully would require a huge amount of faith, but so would survival.

If society ever does fall apart, the most important thing will be spiritual preparedness--faith that is strong enough to sustain a person no matter what. Faith to sustain a person in death, or in a life that could be more miserable than death without the hope that comes from faith in Jesus Christ.
So how does one build the kind of faith that can sustain in times of "great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be" (Matthew 24:21)?

The Bible Dictionary defines faith:

Faith is to hope for things which are not seen, but which are true (Heb. 11:1; Alma 32:21), and must be centered in Jesus Christ in order to produce salvation. To have faith is to have confidence in something or someone. The Lord has revealed Himself and His perfect character, possessing in their fulness all the attributes of love, knowledge, justice, mercy, unchangeableness, power, and every other needful thing, so as to enable the mind of man to place confidence in Him without reservation. Faith is kindled by hearing the testimony of those who have faith (Rom. 10:14–17). Miracles do not produce faith, but strong faith is developed by obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ; in other words, faith comes by righteousness, although miracles often confirm one’s faith.

The entry goes on to further explain that while faith is a gift, it has to be sought after and cultured in order to grow into a strong tree.

Planting the seed

The seed can grow into a tree. Image here.

Faith is often compared to a seed, as in the metaphor above. How do we obtain a seed of faith?

As the Bible Dictionary explained, we have to "hear the testimony of those who have faith." That's why LDS congregations have "testimony meeting" once a month, where members are invited to come up and share their witnesses of Christ's divinity, along with testimonies of other gospel principles, such as charity or tithing. Hearing the testimony of another person is how the seed of faith is planted, and sharing a testimony helps it grow.
An easy way to hear the testimony of people who have real faith is to read the scriptures. The Holy Bible has been inspiring faith in millions, for hundreds of years. Reading the words of Christ as transcribed by people who had faith in Him and personally knew Him is an incredible way to build faith.

The Book of Mormon also contains the words of Jesus Christ--or at least it purports to. The book comes with a promise that is very relevant to this discussion of faith, and this promise is found in Moroni 10:3-5:

3 Behold, I would exhort you that when ye shall read these things, if it be wisdom in God that ye should read them, that ye would remember how merciful the Lord hath been unto the children of men, from the creation of Adam even down until the time that ye shall receive these things, and ponder it in your hearts. 

4 And when ye shall receive these things, I would exhort you that ye would ask God, the Eternal Father, in the name of Christ, if these things are not true; and if ye shall ask with a sincere heart, with real intent, having faith in Christ, he will manifest the truth of it unto you, by the power of the Holy Ghost. 

5 And by the power of the Holy Ghost ye may know the truth of all things.

The scriptures. From lds.org.

The promise is that if you can muster enough faith to A) read the Book of Mormon, B) remember and ponder God's mercy towards the children of men, C) ask of God to know if these things are true or not true, with a sincere heart and real intent and faith in Christ, He will manifest the truth of it to you by the power of the Holy Spirit.

In other words, by following a very simple recipe, a very simple set of instructions, you can actually receive a divine witness as to whether or not the book is true or not.

Reading the book is an act of faith. Asking God about the truthfulness of the book with real intent--meaning, willing to change your life depending on the answer you get--is another act of faith. And then receiving the witness of truth strengthens your faith. It's like a giant cycle of faith-building.

If you don't have any faith, I recommend trying out the test. Worst case scenario, you waste five hours reading a book. Best case scenario, your faith in Jesus Christ strengthens incredibly and your life changes forever for the better.

If you already have faith in Jesus Christ but haven't read the Book of Mormon, the same goes for you: worst case scenario, you learn a little bit more about what other people believe about Jesus. Best case scenario, you feel like you understand the Gospel better than ever and feel a deeper-than-ever

Growing faith

relationship with Jesus.

Faith grows through exercise. Exercises of faith include but are not limited to:

- Daily scripture reading: exercising faith that studying God's word will benefit your life.
- Daily heartfelt prayer: exercising faith that God listens to and hears you, and cares.
- Service with a loving heart: exercising faith that God blesses those who bless His other children.
- Paying tithing: exercising faith that when we sacrifice a tenth of our material increase, God rewards us with more than what we sacrificed.
- Storing extra food and water: exercising faith that God inspired modern prophets who counseled this.
- Getting out of debt: once again exercising faith in God's prophets who have counseled this.

Bigger exercises of faith might be to turn your fertility over to God, trusting that He won't allow a pregnancy at the wrong time for you or your family, or to trust that all the things that don't make sense that pop into your mind are true. Exercising faith like this actually strengthens your faith so that you can exercise more faith.

The Bible has a great treatise on faith in Hebrews 11, and the Book of Mormon has a great one in Ether 12. The Bible Dictionary, as well as these scripture chapters, teaches that with enough faith, one can heal, command the elements, and do basically anything as long as it aligns with God's will. As Jesus said, faith as a mustard seed can move a mountain.

I don't think He was being metaphorical. Faith is the power to literally move literal mountains.

Conclusion

Growing faith is one of the most important things we can do to prepare for anything. Faith in an ultimately just yet loving and merciful God gives us the strength to forgive others and the world for the wrongs we suffer; it gives us the strength to let go of the outcome and trust that He has everything under control, even if we don't. Faith is what will give us the strength to die with grace or live despite horrors.  Building up a food storage or making other survival plans will be futile without a sufficient storage of faith in God and Jesus Christ that can weather the storms of anything the world has to throw at us. 

Jesus dreams picking up speed

Joel 2:28
28 ¶And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:

I just read the most interesting article pertaining to this scripture.

The title of the article is, Rising Number of Muslims Reporting Dreams About Jesus. From the article:

[A]ccounts of encounters with Jesus through dreams and visions increasingly are being reported, according to Pastor Frank Costenbader, founder of Manifold Hope Ministries, publisher of the Isa Dreams website. 

Isa is an Arabic name corresponding to Jesus that is found in the Quran. 

“The number of Isa dreams has seemed to grow tremendously since 2000, and in 2005 it seems to have kicked into another gear,” Costenbader said. “There has been an explosion of testimonies on the Web in the past two years about people encountering Jesus in dreams and subsequently becoming followers of Jesus.”

 The article goes on:

The phenomenon of Muslims coming to a living faith in Jesus is happening every day. This is part of the prophecy of the prophet Joel that in the last days God will pour out his spirit upon all people – sons and daughters will prophesy, young and old men will experience dreams and visions,” Darg said. 

Darg, who is also author of the book “Miracles Among Muslims: The Jesus Visions,” says compiling a record of the visions is difficult because of how often it happens. 

[...]

Darg noted some experts say at least a quarter of all Muslim-background believers have experienced some type of supernatural dream or vision about Jesus. 

“When I share my faith with Muslims, I often ask them if they’ve had a dream or a vision about Jesus, and usually they answer positively,” she said.

I don't have super tons to say about this article, except that it seems that things are indeed ramping up for something. Just thought I'd share.

Tao Te Ching: Chapter 8 Commentary

This is part of a series examining the Tao Te Ching from a Christ-centered, LDS perspective.

Chapter 8 of the Tao Te Ching is one of my favorite chapters. To me, it perfectly describes the essence of the yin, feminine aspect.

Here is the text:

Water. Public domain.

The highest goodness resembles water
Water greatly benefits myriad things without contention
It stays in places that people dislike
Therefore it is similar to the Tao
Dwelling with the right location
Feeling with great depth
Giving with great kindness
Speaking with great integrity
Governing with great administration
Handling with great capability
Moving with great timing
Because it does not contend
It is therefore beyond reproach

Benefits myriad things without contention

I love the idea that the highest goodness benefits things without contention, being even in places that people don't want to be. Are these not explicitly Christian values?

• Matthew 5:39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.

  
  

  3 Nephi 11:29  For verily, verily I say unto you, he that hath the spirit of contention is not of me, but is of the devil, who is the father of contention, and he stirreth up the hearts of men to contend with anger, one with another. 

  
  Because it does not contend, it is beyond reproach.
  
• To me, this chapter of the Tao Te Ching is essentially a condensed version of key parts of the Sermon on the Mount. Compare Matthew 5:39-44: 

39 But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.
 40 And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also.
 41 And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.
 42 Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away.
 43 ¶Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.
 44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

What is all this but giving with great kindness? Dwelling with the right location and feeling with great depth? 

Because it does not contend

In the context of eternal marriage, this chapter stands out to me as being particularly relevant for women as they relate to their husbands, and men as they relate to Christ (like in 1 Corinthians 11:3). This is an instruction manual on how to appropriately submit. Appropriate submission involves feeling and giving and governing and speaking, kindness and integrity and capability and administration. And as the chapter concludes, it marks itself with a notable lack of contention--which contention Christ says is of the devil (see 3 Nephi 11:29, quoted above).

The Bible teaches that wives are to submit to their husbands and that husbands are to submit to Christ. This is a brief explanation of how to do that--not necessarily instructions how, but rather an explication of the adverbs involved with the action. Godly submission, this chapter explains, is hardly "giving up" or "being less" or something--true, godly submission is full of work. It is about giving and doing and speaking and being, and all without contention. This is how a house of order can work: the only way a house can be a house of order is if someone is in charge, and someone else submits to the decisions of the guy in charge.

Enjoy this Ensign article on the responsibilities of husbands. It is very clear about the leadership role of the husband in marriage and the submissive role of the wife in marriage. 

Check out Romans 7:4 for another take on marriage and its relationship to Christ. In a symbolic way, believers become married to Christ for the purposes of bringing up spiritual fruit. Understanding the role of the submissive member of a relationship is important for both men and women, because both men and women are supposed to be perfectly subordinate to Christ. 

Conclusion

Chapter 8 gives a pattern for how to submit like water--and be like the "highest good." Submission and kindness without contention blesses myriad things and leaves the actor "beyond reproach."