Elinara and I went out to brunch yesterday morning with my mother, as we’ve been making the habit to do most weekends.
Unfortunately, the restaurant was pretty busy. There was a pretty decent crowd near the front door waiting to be seated.
At first I felt pretty resistant about that. I certainly don’t like having to wait a long time to be seated, and it was looking like it might go in that direction.
But then I thought, “Wait a second, pushing against this won’t accomplish anything.” And I did something I call, “using the Tao”. Basically, I soften my approach towards life, my thoughts about the current situation, and with intentionality, just allow what is while focusing on what I want.
No kidding, about 5 seconds later, the hostess asked us if we wanted a booth or a table, and sat us immediately.
It reminded me of how powerful I can be when I simply take the soft approach. The Tao Te Ching agrees with me, when it says:
Nothing in the world
Tao Te Ching, Ch. 78
is as soft and yielding as water.
Yet for dissolving the hard and inflexible,
nothing can surpass it.
The soft overcomes the hard;
the gentle overcomes the rigid.
Everyone knows this is true,
but few can put it into practice.
When you try to force yourself against reality, you only meet resistance, and you suffer as a result. It simply doesn’t work.
I’ve been reminded of this difference between hard and soft lately in many different areas. In fact who should show up two days ago but Satan (yes, no joke, don’t ask me why as I have no idea), who told me while I was dreaming that the soft approach was always superior.
Well if it’s good enough for Satan, it’s obviously good enough for me. 😛
But of course I’ve experienced it personally as well, over and over again, so I know it to be true.
People think black magick is all about being forceful. But this is the hard approach, the approach by which you can just smash your way to your desires. But, it doesn’t work.
The soft approach to black magick, while to the uninitiated might appear weak or inferior, is actually the highest form of all. As the above chapter says, the soft is really the strong.
Indeed I believe the Tao Te Ching is a handbook to effective black magick. That sounds like a ridiculous statement, but I’ve proven it to myself over and over again. It’s become a central part of my day-to-day practice, and I have become far more effective as a result.
That’s why I’m launching the course, 81 Days to Effortlessness. It will teach you this soft approach to black magick, which will allow you to get anything you want by simply stopping your resistance against life: in other words, by using the Tao to your advantage as I have so effectively demonstrated in my own life.
If you’re interested, I’m offering an early bird discount to anyone who expresses interest before the official launch of the course (yet to be announced). So please reach out by email and let me know!
Hahaha, who could’ve thought that Satan is, in fact, a softie at heart? 😀 (Sorry, I couldn’t help myself)
I’ve got to familiarize myself with Tao Te Ching. Oddly enough, even though I’ve been on my spiritual path for years now, I’ve never actually read it. Perhaps it was due to my own (subconscious) prejudice; that it would be too “Eastern” in its approach for my taste. I’ve got to grab a copy asap and see how will I like it.
Haha! Hey, seriously though, I hadn’t done much work with him until he randomly showed up. 😛 I couldn’t believe the messenger this had come through, but there you have it.
Interestingly, some people see Satan as the primordial force, sort of like the Tao, so in a way it makes sense.
Anyway, the thing I love about the Tao Te Ching is that it’s totally non-dogmatic. There are no rules, nothing you should do, just principles and guidelines. It doesn’t tell you you should try to unite with the Tao, or try to be enlightened or any of that. Just a simple description of how the Tao works. I’m constantly surprised by that book.