The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion: Chapter XXIX

The Tao Teh King: A Short Study in Comparative Religion, by C. Spurgeon Medhurst, [1905], at sacred-texts.com

CHAPTER XXIX.

I perceive that no desire can succeed which has as its objective the moulding of the state. The state possesses a divine capacity, which cannot be moulded.

Thus in nature some things lead, others follow; some inspire, others expire; some are strong, some are weak; some survive, others succumb; hence, the Holy Man renounces excess, extravagance, exaltation. 1

N.B.—This chapter has a special message for the present time, when the European and American races are yearly bringing the peoples of Africa and of Asia more under their control, and when the Church is aggressively spreading its faith among the nations of the earth. All power exercised over those who are weaker, whether it be secular or spiritual, is an evil when it subverts natural growth; or denationalizes any, either in thought or in act. We can only influence and work no mischief, when we recognize the mysterious subtlety which lies at the root of things, and which cannot be moulded. Who makes mars; who grasps, loses. "And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen were restive. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah: and God smote him there for his rashness; and there he died by the ark of God." (II Sam. vi, 6, 7.)

Footnotes

52:1 The Sage leaves everything to work out its own destiny "Even should a Master—a Jîvanmukta, one who has attained union, while still in the body, with that Higher Self—cast the mantle of his power round the disciple, should be wrap him in his aura, even then, it would be of no profit, if the disciple is not ready to burst the veils of his Soul with self-effort.

"If the nature of the disciple does not respond of its own will, and grow of its own energy, the artificial exaltation would be not only unprofitable but even injurious. For the instant the protecting wall were removed, the reaction would sweep the unprepared neophyte off his feet.… And that is why it is so difficult for a Master to interfere with the natural growth of the disciple.… Nature must work on in her own way, and growth must proceed from within without and never from without within."—The World-Mystery, by G. R. S. Mead, B.A., M.R.A.S., pp. 146, 147.