Tao Te Ching Chapter 20

When we renounce learning we have no troubles.
The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;'--
Small is the difference they display.
But mark their issues, good and ill;--
What space the gulf between shall fill?

What all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)!

The multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone seem listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of their presence. I am like an infant which has not yet smiled. I look dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of
men all have enough and to spare. I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of chaos.

Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be benighted. They look full of discrimination, while I alone am dull and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea, drifting as if I had nowhere to rest. All men have their spheres of action, while I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. (Thus) I alone am different from other men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Tao).

A Revolutionary way to think about Spirituality

This is a new Teaching about what spirituality is all about, the why, the how, and the what do do. To start with I will explain what religion and spirituality is all about - they are about Truth and Love. Truth and Love is YOUR nature and God's nature, so it makes sense that if you want to be spiritual you have to have Truth and Love. The more Truth and Love you have the more spiritual you will be. Beauty and Health are included as they are Divine qualities and these are the natural state of someone truly spiritual and so is intelligence. If you increase these qualities you increase your spirituality, they take you toward your True Nature which is Love, Truth, Health, Beauty, Intelligence and more like understanding. I really expect this Teaching to revolutionise spirituality and everything, and by the way you can not separate spirituality from everything else, as all life is spiritual, everything is One. And as everything is One, you are also One with God and He has all these qualities, so you will become more like God and your True Self, your Soul, as you develop these qualities. All Souls are One and One with God, you just need to realise it, by increasing these Divine qualities. I have learnt these things by hard won effort and because I have practised these things, thought/reflected on this and have discovered this New Teaching. There is no real limit to how much of these qualities you can have because God is unlimited, so if you work on these qualities you will become more spiritual. These are the qualities of the Real You so that is why you are working on them.
So increasing your Health and Intelligence is a way to be more spiritual, though we have to get away from the commonplace usages of those words. You do have to be rounded out for true results though. You may not figure this out unless I tell you. Increasing the health and intelligence of others and the whole planet is a way of being spiritual and this is where it is all leading and what spirituality is all about. Working on yourself can only take you so far. After some work on yourself, you will need to extend your effort to helping others, after all this is what Love is all about (Service is Love in action) and helping others is the surest way to increase these Divine qualities (as we serve we also learn). You can't really do it unless this is your motive. Now that's it... I'll see you in Heaven (not a place you go when you die, but can be achieved in the here and now - the Kingdom of Heaven is within after all). By the way, increasing your intelligence, IS helping others.

William Blake quotes

Here are some Willian Blake quotes to get you in the "mood".


“Both read the Bible day and night, but thou read black where I read white.” William Blake

“Every harlot was a virgin once.” William Blake

“Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?” William Blake

“Always be ready to speak your mind, and a base man will avoid you.” William Blake

“A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees.” William Blake

“He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy; But he who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sun rise.” William Blake

“He who desires, but acts not, breeds pestilence.” William Blake

“He who would do good to another must do it in Minute Particulars: general Good is the plea of the scoundrel, hypocrite, and flatterer, for Art and Science cannot exist but in minutely organized Particulars.” William Blake

“He whose face gives no light, shall never become a star.” William Blake

“If a thing loves, it is infinite.” William Blake

“If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” William Blake

“If the Sun and Moon should ever doubt, they'd immediately go out.” William Blake

“It is not because angels are holier than men or devils that makes them angels, but because they do not expect holiness from one another, but from God only.” William Blake

“Love seeketh not itself to please, nor for itself hath any care, but for another gives its ease, and builds a Heaven in Hell's despair.” William Blake

“Poetry fettered, fetters the human race. Nations are destroyed or flourish in proportion as their poetry, painting, and music are destroyed or flourish.” William Blake

“The eye altering, alters all.” William Blake

“The hours of folly are measured by the clock; but of wisdom, no clock can measure.” William Blake

“The man who never alters his opinions is like standing water, and breeds reptiles of the mind.” William Blake

“The man who never in his mind and thoughts travel'd to heaven is no artist.” William Blake

“The soul of sweet delight, can never be defiled.” William Blake

“To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.” William Blake

“To generalize is to be an idiot.” William Blake

“Those who restrain their desires, do so because theirs is weak enough to be restrained.” William Blake


“What is grand is necessarily obscure to weak men. That which can be made explicit to the idiot is not worth my care.” William Blake

“What is now proved was once only imagined.” William Blake

“What is the price of experience? Do men buy it for a song? Or wisdom for a dance in the street? No, it is bought with the price of all the man hath, his house, his wife, his children.” William Blake