What is proof of greatness?

Ordinary people think the "Great Tao" is actually useless.

That everyone thinks it is useless, is proof of how great it is. 

If it was the kind of thing ordinary people thought was useful, it would have disappeared long ago.

~Lao Tzu

One view is it takes alchemy to bring about fundamental, inner change. If you do not know alchemy, then you do not yet experience fundamental change.  Raising awareness invites you to shift vantage points, expand perspective and possibility.  How do you propose to expand if you live at the same level of conscious awareness that brought you to where you are?

Comments

[Bern]

If someone likes to cook and they are adding new ingredients and are constantly changing the methodology in creating a dish, they are participating in alchemy. With each change in a recipe, one is changing an aspect of the self within. The frequency of experiencing has shifted and expanded.

If someone raises rabbits and crossbreads them to create new hybrids and traits that they resonate with, they are alchemists because the traits they are focusing on are being adjusted within themselves as well.

That which we experiment with in the outer world changes us in the inner world.

Things can only be useful in the material world and with a material mind. That which is useful has a limited shelf life. It is finite in nature. It has its time. The Tao is beyond time and is infinite. So it will never go away. One can not use the Tao. The Tao is not useful, it is acceptable.

Expansion can happen in two ways depending on one's state of mind. The ego can expand or inflate and can become seemingly powerful. By taking an alternate route one can dissolve or dismantle the ego piece by piece through alchemy. Its an aspect of uncreating aspects of the perceived self. As the ego deflates, the mind expands bringing in new possibilites and ways of interacting intimately with the world.

[Liara Covert]

Bern, where "useful" is understood as producing material results, then it seems finite in nature. A perspective of the immeasurable resonates with the timeless Tao. Consciousnes just is. One is aware of it, yet one does not label or decode it. Whether one accepts it or not does not change what is. You allow it to flow freely, align or not.

[Bern]

Circles Change
Circles Dissolve
Circles Form
Circles Get Used
Circles Use You
The Tao Never Changes.
The Tao Never Dissolves
The Tao has no Form
The Tao is You and is not You.

[Kaushik | beyond-karma.com]

"How do you propose to expand if you live at the same level of conscious awareness that brought you to where you are?"

Indeed. I can add that inner transformation, or alchemy, is available to all of us--we already have it. It simply takes awareness, and letting go.

Great reminders, thanks.

k

[Liara Covert]

Bern, another way to view it is to know you are everything and nothing. The more a person expands to love, the fewer questions are asked and the more inner knowing reassures in silence. Stillness speaks in vibrations.

[Liara Covert]

Kaushik, what soul is never actually changes, only one's perception of it. Revelations unfold during the process of remembering. As the energy being within chooses to be loyal to what it is, the unknown is known. Individual and collective responsibility merge into oneness.