Transcending Birth & Death

Dr. Wayne Dyer wrote a book called “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” based on the wisdom of the Tao. His book also has a unique English translation of this ancient Chinese classic as well as his personal reflections on the meaning of each verse. He also gives additional insights or advice about how to apply this ancient Chinese wisdom to your life. There are additional sections after Dr. Dyer’s explanation of each verse containing advice and some self-reflective or meditative exercises. Their purpose is to help you figure out how to turn your new thoughts into action. To see changes in your life, you will have to do a lot of inner work on yourself. This may include spending a lot of time to examine your strengths and weaknesses, to observe your daily interactions with people, to understand what causes you to have negative or positive feelings, and to realize how you usually respond or react to events in your life. The follower of the Tao must learn to feel inner peace and tranquility and also adopt a more balanced approach to life. Reading this book is a great guide in helping you learn how not to let all the obstacles, problems, challenges, and drama of daily life get you down. This is the first step to a spiritual transformation and a basic introduction on how alchemy can benefit you.

As you read this book, you will begin to notice synchronicities all around you. You will amazingly find that personal events start coinciding with the lessons you are learning at the time. During the Covid-19 outbreak and my self-quarantine at home, I came across the 50^th verse of the Tao. The first part of the 50^th verse goes like this:

 

50^th Verse of Tao teching

Between birth and death,

Three in ten are followers of life;

Three In ten are followers of death.

And men just passing from birth to death

Also number three in ten.

 

Laozi chose to share his wisdom with us in paradoxes. They can seem perplexing to decode at first. That’s why the book, “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” is a must have if you are interested in being a modern pupil or disciple of Laozi. You also don’t have to be Chinese to adopt his wisdom into your personal belief system.

Laozi, in his 50^th verse of the Tao, talks about 3 types of mentalities that most people generally have between the spectrum of birth and death.Then he talks about a rarer 4^th mentality that can lead a person to become a master by transcending the spectrum or cycle of birth and death.In other words, the master alchemist is able to transcend space and time by producing an inner elixir or “substance of qi” through the controlling of their mind, breath, and posture.To transcend, you also need to come to the mental realization that you are not your life and you do not end with death. Life is just your entry into your virtual Earth world and death is just your exit. Start making the concept of being an immortal a part of your whole being and every cell. It will give you the strength that you need to overcome many difficult situations.Read about the difference between Taoist spiritual awakening and Buddhist spiritual awakening here.

Between birth and death is the first line. Shakespeare once said, “To be or not to be; that is the question.” If Shakespeare was inspired by Laozi, he would have said “to live or not to live.” It would be Laozi’s way of asking you, “Will you choose to be a follower of life or of death?” Three in ten are the followers of life.

 My interpretation of the “followers of life” that Laozi describes are the people who are the keepers, preservers, and protectors of their lives. If they are successful at protecting themselves well, they can live to old age. They seek long life and longevity, so they try to be good stewards of their bodies. They refrain from doing things that could be detrimental to their health in the long run such as excessive smoking and drinking. Followers of life are cautious in their footsteps and are careful about where they go, and they won’t participate in activities that could be considered unsafe. These types of people plan in advance and will prepare for a long journey ahead or what they might need just in case of an emergency. During the coronavirus outbreak, followers of life may stock their homes with everything they need and willingly participate in self-quarantine. They will keep up religiously with new data and articles being published about the situation and make a plan on how to keep themselves from contracting the virus. Followers of life may seem like they could be worried or even fearful about the virus, but they actually have strong faith in their ability to protect themselves. They put their protection in their own hands or in the hands of a higher power and use their own common sense or “gut” as a source of direction.

Three in ten are followers of death is the next line. The followers of death are known as the risk-takers. Risk-takers may seem fearless to an observer, but some can also be reckless as well. Could their fearlessness actually be denial or a lack of wisdom? They ignore or are not aware of the negative effects that their actions could have on themselves or others such as possibly exposing others to an illness like Covid-19. Followers of death during the midst of Covid-19 may be those that test chance by continuing to go to crowded areas or public places without using little to no protection such as hand sanitizer or a mask. Some of them may go so far as ignoring safety precautions and important information from their local authorities, health specialists, and scientists. Followers of death do not realize or think about the consequences for their actions, so they are more likely to die young.

“And men just passing from birth to death also number three in ten.” People who pass from birth to death are those that cling to their life. This line of the Dao de Jing coincides with John 12:25 in the Bible: “If you love your life, you will lose it. If you give it up in this world, you will be given eternal life.” People passing from birth to death will choose to live life to the fullest or try to make the best of life in every moment. They may also be influenced by worldly pleasures, entertainment, and scratching off things to do on their bucket list. Their great passion of life may also lead them to great riches, power, and success. This will lead them to work hard, but may also play hard as well. The reason why they feel the need to work so hard to gain, is because they subconsciously and obsessively focus on getting rid of all traces of possible lack. People passing from birth to death make many of their decisions based on filling voids in their lives. Some can possibly be over excessive and indulgent in what they want rather than what they actually need. They become addicted and attached to their desires until they create an illusion that what they desire is actually what they need. According to traditional Eastern thought, less is actually more. The more you have, the more you are afraid to lose which creates non-flexibility and limitations in your life. This causes people to become stuck in their voids, and their obsession with gain vs. lack can lead people to drown themselves in addictions, unhealthy habits, and dangerous pursuits if they happen to fail at getting rid of their lack. The constant feeling of lack causes imbalances, health problems, depression, and fear. Choices based on endless fear can possibly lead to death. So, men passing from birth to death live longer than the followers of death, but die faster than the followers of life. Those who moved from the life mentality to death mentality in 2020 would be the ones who overstocked on supplies during this time due to paranoia, or they put their endeavors and pleasure-seeking before their safety and health. Is it possible that you become more aligned with your immortal self when you become less consumed with the “material” (the external or what is going on outside of you) and more consumed with the “spiritual” (the internal or what is going on inside of you).Explore more about the meaning of this verse and the Dao de Jing here:

To see more versions and translations of this verse of the Tao, look here:

Let’s Recap:

1. “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life”: Read this book by Dr. Wayne Dyer to learn how to master inner peace and tranquility and also to adopt a more balanced approach to life. Life is like the high and low points of a wave. If you know how to smoothly surf the high points and low points of the waves without being carried away by them or going against them, your life begins to flow.
2. Transcend the Spectrum of Birth and Death:Laozi talks about 3 different types of human mentalities in their regard to how they handle life. They are preserving life, risking life, and clinging to life. Although preserving life sounds like the best mentality, it is still missing something important. Although you can try to have good habits, have wisdom, and prepare well; unexpected things can still happen that can cause setbacks, stress, or even pain. This is why it is important for anyone to work on adopting a 4^th mentality mentioned by Laozi in the 50^th verse of the Tao