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November, 2021
Dear Friends,
My husband Bob and I have a mixed marriage, though with some effort we've made it work. I'm a water person, while Bob's a mountain person who gets bored after a half hour sitting on a beach. As I'm sitting there entranced by the rhythmic waves, he's giving long-suffering sighs about the heat and strategizing about where we can find a place to hike.
A silver lining of the travel restrictions caused by the pandemic is that it gave me an excuse to drag Bob to waterways across the Midwest (including to Voyageurs National Park in Minnesota, as the photo shows). Instead of heading to the mountains we've explored lakes, rivers, ponds, and streams in our region of the country. I'm happy to report that I can now get Bob to sit still for awhile next to water, though it certainly helps if he has a beer in hand.
All those hours on and next to water have been good for my soul (which is one of the clues that I'm a water person, I guess). It's also gotten me thinking about what water can teach us.
These musings have brought me back to a spiritual classic I hadn't read in many years. The Tao Te Ching (also known as Dao De Jing) is a 2,500-year-old text attributed to a Chinese sage named Lao Tzu. It's a manual of how to live in harmony with the Tao, which is sometimes translated as the Way or the Path. The Tao is formless, silent, and ever-present, an energy that pervades the universe. It can't really be described in words, as the famous first lines of the Tao Te Ching admit: "The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name."
The Tao Te Ching uses water as its central metaphor to describe the Tao. Consider these lines from chapter 78:
Nothing in the world
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.
So the Tao is the softest of things, ever fluid, always in motion, but in its softness is strength. Exhibit A: the Grand Canyon.
Those who try to live in harmony with the Tao seek a way of life that is humble and grounded in integrity and goodness. They seek balance rather than success and self-awareness rather than external recognition. Though Taoists place a great deal of emphasis on meditation and solitude, they're capable of decisive action when the time is right.
A central concept in Taoist thought is wu wei, which means something like "effortless action" or "the action of non-action" (yes, Taoism is full of paradoxes). Wu wei has similarities to flow, the term used to describe the state of mind that occurs when we lose all sense of time and are fully caught up in whatever we're doing. In that state, we don't need to think because effort comes naturally.
Philosopher Alan Watts uses the example of someone trying to cross a body of water to illustrate the concept of wu wei. You can use a rowboat, which is slow and hard. Or you can put up a sail and catch the wind so that you glide across the water with little effort. That is the essence of wu wei: aligning our efforts with the Tao so that life flows smoothly.
All of this goes against what most of us have been taught, of course, which is that the key to success is to work harder and longer. If you encounter an obstacle, put your head down and plow through it. A Taoist, in contrast, would begin a task by sitting and observing, maybe for a long time, and when he finally stands up to do the work, the task is effortless because he has put himself in harmony with it.
It all sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn't it? I'm not sure I could ever be a true Taoist because I'm way too impatient. But living through this tumultuous time has made me want to ponder the Tao and wu wei as I sit by the side of those bodies of water I love so much. It makes me feel like I'm aligning myself with something larger and deeper and helps me loosen the grip I have, just a little, on all the things that are beyond my control.
So you can see that I've found that water can be a wise teacher. And even if you're a mountain person, or a woods person, or not an outdoor person at all, I hope you too can find a body of water to teach you about the Tao.
As Lao Tzu asks: "Do you have the patience to wait till your mud settles and the water is clear? Can you remain unmoving till the right action arises by itself?"
All good wishes,
Lori
(photo by Bob Sessions)
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 Recommended Reading:
The Tao Te Ching is one of the most translated books in the world. Well-respected translations include Stephen Mitchell's Tao Te Ching: A New English Translation (which I have quoted above) and Derek Lin's Tao Te Ching: Annotated and Explained.
Being Taoist: Wisdom for Living a Balanced Life by Eva Wong is full of advice on how to incorporate Taoist teachings into your daily life.
Martin Palmer's The Jesus Sutras: Rediscovering the Lost Scrolls of Taoist Christianity tells the story of a cache of artifacts discovered in 1907 in China that reveal a blending of Christian and Taoist teachings between the fifth and eleventh centuries.
 And here's one more book I recommend:
I got the chance to review an advance copy of Dimming the Day: Evening Meditations for Quiet Wonder, a book by Jennifer Grant that was published on October 19. Here's what I said in my endorsement:
"Jennifer Grant’s Dimming the Day is a gift to an anxious world. From dandelions and redwoods to ginkgos and beehives, Grant uses the natural world as a springboard for spiritual insights. Her eloquently written vignettes paired with thoughtful prompts for prayer and reflection evoke serenity and invite wonder. Keep this lovely book on your bedside table for reassurance and inspiration."
News About My Books:
As regular readers of this newsletter know, I'm the author of the new book The Soul of the Family Tree: Ancestors, Stories, and the Spirits We Inherit, which is about tracing my family roots and the life lessons of genealogy. See my website for a list of reviews and media.
My previous book, Near the Exit, was featured on NPR's Travel With Rick Steves Program this past weekend. The show was recorded in 2019 when the book came out and I was delighted to have it run again. You can listen to the interview here: Near the Exit on Travel with Rick Steves (my portion of the program begins at 31:40).
 Upcoming Events:
The Soul of the Family Tree Talks:
December 2, 7 pm Pacific Time, Zoom presentation sponsored by the Napa Valley, California, Genealogical Society.
December 8, 2 pm Central Time, Zoom presentation sponsored by TRAIL of Johnson County, Iowa and the Iowa City/Johnson County Senior Center
Also, I'll lead a Day of the Dead Walk at Harvest Preserve in Iowa City, Iowa, at 4:30 pm on November 1. Join me for a meditative walk in honor of loved ones.
My Previous Books:
 Near the Exit: Travels with the Not-So-Grim Reaper is about places that have helped me come to terms with mortality.
“This book’s journey to spiritual places near and far is worth taking.” Library Journal (starred review)
 Holy Rover: Journeys in Search of Mystery, Miracles, and God is a memoir told through trips to a dozen holy sites around the world.
“Whether describing mystical visions or the rhythms of everyday life, Erickson turns the spiritual journey into a series of exciting transformations.” Publishers Weekly (starred review)
If you've read and enjoyed my books, I hope you'll write a review on Amazon, Goodreads, or other online sites. Your review will help other readers discover my work.
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Lori Erickson is one of America’s top travel writers specializing in spiritual journeys. She's the author of The Soul of the Family Tree, Near the Exit and Holy Rover. Her website Spiritual Travels features holy sites around the world.
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