Jason

Funny thing about electricity. It'll run through a copper wire pretty well, but all wires, even the best ones, have resistance. This resistance generates heat, and at a certain point - if enough electricity runs through the wire - the heat will melt the wire and it will fail. So, as you can see, it's not the electricity, but the wire's resistance to the electricity that breaks the wire.

I find it odd that the Sage is guided by what he feels. That seems to contradict the portion immediately preceding.

As you say, it is based on fear. Fear compels. Fear forces action or inaction. Fear limits. Acting from fear is not freedom. Acceptance nullifies fear. Acceptance frees the mind. Acceptance brings freedom.

It appears so, but no. The first compels you to act and limits your choices. The second does not.

Mindfulness is a good thing. As for mindset, perhaps an example will help. Example: We age. Everyone ages. Yet culturally we resist aging. "This is not happening. How can I stop this? What product must I use? What gym must I join?" Hence the explosion of anti-aging products. A Taoist accepts. "This is happening. I am aging. I am not the same as before." This brings freedom to act.

I feel a need to clarify. By "accept," I don't mean helplessly watch as the world unfolds. Rather, I mean adopt a mindset of "this is happening." By adopting this mindset one is free to act or not. This is in direct contradiction to the typical reaction, e.g. "this is not happening." One could consider this a form of mindfulness.

The lesson is acceptance. Tao accepts. It does not strive. It flows. This is a reminder of that.

This is very good advice.

From a certain advanced and abstract point of view that does help, but again I urge caution.

I find this somewhat problematic. Perhaps it's a linguistic problem, but there are two ways we can interpret "to become a god:" the first is to be unified with the one God, and the second is to become a rival to God. I believe the former is what this text means when it adds "to be united with Him." But we must be cautious when reading this, since if we interpret it with the latter meaning, for us to become (rival) gods, then we are walking the same slippery slope as Lucifer and one third of the angels.

I change my answer. Last month I wrote "The purpose of life is to live." That's wrong. In truth, no one can tell you the purpose of life, for the simple reason that only you experience life. It's up to you to find life's purpose, but that search presupposes a desire for there to actually be a purpose. Do you want life to have a purpose?

The traumas of the past create ripples that flow into the present. Whether the past was a different life or not makes no difference. If some has committed a great wrong in a past life from which they have not recovered it will manifest in the present in some way, and that manifestation may drive one to suicide, but suicide is not an act of atonement. It is an attempt at escape, and from a past life perspective it will only magnify the disturbance in future lives. Unfortunately, the only way to overcome trauma is to work through it consciously. There is no easy way out.

The purpose of life is to live.

These three lines strike me as the essential lesson. Shape vs form. Moving vs yielding. Why a bellows? Is this a coded message for breath work?

Congratulations on changing to a new domain and hosting service. Here's to a long life and many fruitful conversations to come! Jason