Alleviating Elderly Problems: A Taoist Approach
The Tao Te Ching is a sacred text containing eighty one verses that were dictated by a self-realized man, Lao Tzu. Lao Tzu lived approximately five hundred years before the birth of Jesus – the Tao Te Ching is the most widely translated body of text after the Bible and its eighty one verses are believed to be the ultimate commentary on living a harmonious life by observing nature – this seems to be exactly what the doctor prescribed for the Seventy-six million baby boomers.
The Tao is all about studying and learning important life lessons from nature. In the 76th verse of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu invites us to change our perception of weakness and strength. He teaches us how the most hard and stiff organisms in nature are actually very weak and easily destroyed. On the other hand, anything in nature that’s yielding, flexible and gentle; proves to be the most durable. Isn’t it true that upon nearing death and decay a tree would become hard and stiff making it vulnerable to strong winds and fire? The wood of the tree becomes frail, feeble and stiff as it ages. Lao Tzu rightly points out that it’s the wood’s inflexibility and hardness that tends to make it weak. Isn’t this akin to all other organisms as well that become completely stiff and inflexible (weak) at the time of their deaths?
Being baby boomers we have all probably seen newly born babies who seem to be complete yoga masters and have no difficulty in performing amazing physical feats (like placing their feet in their mouth). We have all witnessed toddlers bump their heads and limbs against the walls and furniture in the house – each time they manage to shrug it off in a matter of minutes only to resume whatever they were doing. Within minutes they would make friends, have fights and then make up with them. It seems as if their bodies and their minds are flexible and supple – they are unafraid of being hurt, injured or looking silly. On a different note, they are also least bothered about which God the next door neighbor prays to or about how much wealth their school mates’ parents possess . Somehow, as we grow older physically our minds, thoughts, judgments and feelings become too stiff, inflexible and rigid – it’s sad that society judges us according to how fiercely we hold onto our beliefs and concepts of what’s right and what’s wrong. In order to live longer and happier, baby boomers need to bring about a shift in that kind of reasoning.
Alleviating Elderly Problems by Learning to Bend
It seems as if our ability to listen more than we speak, to bend when necessary, to let go of grief and grudges and to allow our point of views to change with time and experience is very similar to a palm tree amidst a hurricane whose flexibility (apparent weakness) turns out to be its greatest strength.
We baby boomers need to look at their opinions and beliefs about touchy subjects like birth control, abortions and the death penalty and consider being in the position of someone who holds a contrary opinion. We need to look at things from his/her perspective and try to shake loose our unshakable opinion. Similarly we need to put ourselves in the place of people from different religions, different countries, different social statures, the opposite gender and a different generation in order to attain mental and physical longevity. As someone rightly said “The essence of illness is the freezing of behavior into unalterable and insatiable patterns”.
Please read the 76th verse of the Tao and try to meditate on how these words ring true in your own life:
“Men are born soft and supple; dead, they are stiff and hard. Plats are born tender and pliant; dead, they are brittle and dry.Thus whoever is stiff and inflexible is a disciple of death.Whoever is soft and yielding is a disciple of life. The hard and stiff will be broken. The soft and supple will prevail”
(From a translation by S. Mitchell)
Baby Boomers Understanding the Tao – bending is living is part of Boomer Yearbook’s continuing series of baby boomers psychological coaching tips and how to alleviate elderly problems. We believe knowledge is power. We’d love to hear what you think.
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