How Individuals should Conform to the Ways of Nature

Xuefeng

December 18, 2019

Introduction: The beauty and simplicity of nature can only be truly appreciated after one has experienced the richness of life; experiencing the vicissitudes of life teaches you the truth of original nature. Directing the country high-spiritedly only to have things backfire in the end, pitting one region against another and overcoming all obstacles, these are all totally unnecessary; surrender to the way of nature!

1. Be content with the status quo and accept reality: Nothing is controlled by man; everything is determined by nature. If it is predestined, it will appear eventually; if it is not, do not insist upon it. Blessings come, enjoy them; suffering comes, bear it. I will accept with pleasure whatever the Greatest Creator arranges for me, neither worrying, complaining, getting angry, nor with rage. If there is no sea, I will admire the rivers in front of me leisurely; if there are no rivers, I will take company with streams; if there are no streams, I will just wait for the rain to fall from the sky; if I have a bad fate, then I will not complain about anyone because I have enjoyed too many blessings for the too few-merits from my previous lives; if there is no one to help me on my journey of life, I will not blame anyone because I was too selfish and did not establish good ties along my way. Karma is perfectly accurate, so I will eat coarse grain every day, live in thatched huts, and wear patched clothes, but my heart will remain calm and my mind will be relaxed.

2. Do not be jealous or envious: You have your heavenly plan and I have my serenade; you are beautiful and charming but suffer a harsh life; I have an unsatisfactory look but boast a heart of gold; you are earthshaking and cloud blowing while I am content with poverty and am devoted leisurely to Tao; you have many guests and your place is crowded with people and vehicles but I only communicate with the spirit of heaven and earth; you live with the debauchery of villas and luxury cars but I live with bright moons and gentle breezes. Grass never envies the richness of peony; weeping willows never envy the fullness of fruit trees. Everything is arranged appropriately and I neither envy nor admire anyone.

3. Never make excessive demands: Demanding that your cat guards your house, that your dog plows your field, that your rooster lays eggs, or that your sow gives milk would all be against the ways of nature and therefore fruitless. Some things are born with purpose; others are born with talent. There is neither a panacea for all diseases, nor perfect sages and saints. Command neither your superiors nor your subordinates excessively, neither parents nor children, neither husbands nor wives, and of course, neither brothers, sisters, friends, lovers, neighbors, nor other relatives. Green, swaying bamboo benefits your mind; that is enough. Do not command bamboo to bear dates for you. When someone cooks for you, that is enough; do not demand that your dish be both delicious and colorful. It is enough to have someone to accompany you on your journey; do not expect them to fulfill all your desires.

4. Do what you can without taking risks: “He who has no diamond should not undertake to cut glass”; what will happen when you load three tons onto a truck that is made for two tons or if you drive on a curved mountain road at 120 kilometers per hour? What if you pour an entire pot of boiling water into a drinking glass? What if you have only 200 thousand yuan in your pocket but you want to buy a 1 million yuan building? Everyone is like a container which can only hold a certain amount; if that amount is exceeded, either the container will burst or serious waste will occur. If you can only carry eighty catties, but you want to carry a hundred of them, you will be crushed; therefore, we must do everything within our capability to not take such risks. Watch cheerfully as others run companies effortlessly but do not imitate them, watch neighbors build high-rise buildings but do not chase them, watch others become internet celebrities but do not follow them, watch others send their children to study abroad but do not send yours. You must weigh your own abilities; if you do not have enough abilities, then do not be too ambitious. Always do what you can, never attempt to do what you cannot.

5. Non-action means non-contention: The way of nature has arranged everything in an orderly manner. Whether it is a dog or a cat, a hawk or a chicken, a peach or an apricot, or a man or a woman, everything is arranged and predetermined; everything is born. In beehives, the queens, drones, and workers are all determined at birth. Their purposes are not chosen by democratic voting nor can any bee who wants to become a queen through their own hard work become one. The queen needs to hold no meetings with groups of her subordinates to discuss and arrange daily affairs; each bee does what it is destined to do and all divisions of labor are clear and orderly. The same is true in human society; the role of each person has been decided long ago. If you are predestined to be a president, then you cannot be a craftsman; if a beggar, then you cannot become a billionaire; if a commoner, then you cannot become a saint; if a thief, then you cannot become a hero with immortal fame. Some people are natural organizers and leaders while some are destined to be imprisoned. No one’s life from birth to death is up to themselves; you can only decide to do what is predestined; it is next to impossible for you to change or achieve anything substantial by your efforts. Only peach trees can bear peaches; no matter how hard they work, they will never bear pomegranates. No matter how hard they study and research, even if they rack their brains and fail to eat and sleep, flies will never produce honey, so practice nonaction, set no goals for yourself, think nothing about becoming a rich celebrity, do not expect to become a pianist or any musician, let alone think about how to make yourself a “returning Jesus” or a “Ziwei saint”. Every day just do what you should do right on that day, take things as they are, associate with others by following predestined relationships, act in accordance with your nature, and take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Do not contend with anyone; it is of no use. If it should be yours, it will be yours; if it should not be yours, you will not get it by contention.

6. Do not insist; do not hold: Many parents make plans and arrangements for their children and “do not want their children to lose at the starting line”; what is their result? Children who are forced by their parents will definitely lose at the finish line because they will have pulled up seedlings to help them grow and will have violated the way of nature. Qin Shihuang wanted to pass the country from his generation to his progeny after unifying the six kingdoms, but Qin II lost his state power and Qin III never appeared. Many people want to pass their family business or their career that they have earned through their hard work on to their children but the results often backfire. Many people try their best to make their spouses loyal to themselves after they get married, but what happens? 95% of men cheat and 95% of women suffer by attempting to toss their husband’s mistresses out. “Those who hold it lose it; those who make it spoil it.” Do you want to control something in your hands firmly, do you want to spare no effort to defend your “treasure”? That is whimsical, ignorant, and foolish because nothing can be held or controlled indefinitely by anyone; you had better follow nature and let water flow naturally!

7. Be as good as you can regardless of where it will lead you: “Melon's pedicels fall when their fruit ripens and channels form when water flows”. When we say that all things are destined and have been arranged long ago, we mean that there are rules and principles for everything and they run in accordance with unchanging procedures for thousands of years; that is, a person’s current state is caused by their past thoughts, words, and actions. If they have been doing evil all the time, then there is no doubt that they will be destined to go to hell unless they rein in on the brink of the precipice and repent thoroughly of their misdeeds; if they have been doing good and accumulating virtue, then they will undoubtedly be destined to go to heaven because karma is a program. Whatever we enter into this program, it will feed corresponding results back to us. This is called “destined by heaven”; this is called the way of nature. Therefore, make dedications throughout your life and neither ask nor care about their results because the program will run and arrange things according to them. When melons ripen, their pedicels fall off; do not doubt that when quantitative changes reach saturation, qualitative change will definitely follow. What matters is that we stick to these changes for many years or even for the rest of our lives; if this life is not enough, we should continue to do so in our future lives.

8. Have unrestrained imagination and fly freely: The way of nature controls everything except our imagination; beggars can imagine that they are royalty and singles can imagine that they have a hundred spouses. Anyone can have sex with anyone they want to within the world of their imagination. Mortals can imagine themselves appreciating and enjoying heaven and you can imagine yourself taking the sun away or becoming a wild goose flying in the sky; whatever you think, this is our free will bestowed to us by the Greatest Creator. No matter what you think, you will neither be punished nor rewarded. It is even OK if you beat someone up in your imagination, you just need to make yourself happy and satisfy your wishes. None of these imaginings will be input into the causal program; therefore, you can be unrestrained and fly freely. Here, I would like to point out that motivation and imagination seem to be the same thing, but there is an essential difference: motivation is an inner activity that you want to put into practice; imagination is an ongoing or completed conscious activity for self-entertainment.

Conclusion: To conform to nature is to conform to objective laws and natural principles and to never impose one’s own will on them in order to change anything artificially. Follow the way of nature and everything will be harmonious and people will be happy about everything; go against it, and all things will be disorderly and conflicted; there will be hurricanes, hail, drought, scorching heat, turmoil, war, plague, and famine, and people will be worried, sad, anxious, and even encounter disasters. That is to say, following the way of nature will be rewarded by Tao, violating the way of nature will be punished by Tao, and surrendering to the way of nature will ensure your place in heaven.