Parturition

After teaching yesterday it occurred to me that if the student leads a partitioned life - one full of pigeonholes, each containing a different activity, one of which is called Tai Chi - then the Tao has no choice but to treat the student similarly - there will be secrets it cannot share. Freedom is the removal of partitions, not just within a life, but at the bounds of that life also. In a sense self is the congestion within a life, the clotted middle-ground that prevents free passage, the magnet that contorts the space you inhabit. Destiny and energy can only properly work for you if they are allowed free-flow through your being. Thinking is an activity that causes the energy to curl up into itself and stop flowing freely, especially in and out. Thinking, almost by definition, is an act of self-concern. Too much of it and you become a stagnant node. It implies that you have reality in a sufficient grip to be able to name and label its components and its interactions. This is pigeonholing.