If you overvalue status

you will create contentiousness.

If you overvalue possessions,

people will begin to steal.

Do not display your treasures

or people will become envious.

The Master leads by

emptying people’s minds

and filling their cores,

by weakening their ambitions

and toughening their resolve.

He helps people lose everything

they know, everything they desire,

and creates confusion

in those that think they know.

Practise not-doing.

and everything will fall into place.

Verse 3

Wow it is hard to believe that the 4 days spent with verse 3 are coming to an end. Of course the words will live on so there is not really an ending as such but a time to reflect and gather one's thoughts before studying verse 4. You see verse 3 is all about emptiness, not having, not doing and just being. It teaches us that if we show too much of what we conceive to be special or better than that which someone else has then we immediately cause friction. Yes human nature brings about these feelings and not everyone is studying how to better one'self so the less we show off, the less we create envy and the more peace that ensues. Of course we will all be proud at times and want to share good times along the way but why not think for a short while about how you share these moments... It is also a good time to think about your possessions. Do they make you the person you are and what would you be without them? 

Verse 3 teaches us to simply wake up HAPPY... Lao Tzu says that Happiness is the way and it is not something we can seek to find. It is here all of the time but it is always a choice. Just as verse 3 says, WE ALWAYS HAVE A CHOICE. 

Imagine having a life that was so very full yet from the outside looked empty to some. No flash car.. no huge TV screen on the wall, no designer clothes in the wardrobe, no shoes lined up never being worn... Just imagine if you had no possessions? Could you cope? Wayne Dyer started this year long work by asking his secretary to get rid of almost everything he possessed . He wanted to start from the bottom up but without the need to gain along the way. We can all do the same, in fact it is very easy. Give things away, don't become what you have and empty your life of clutter. Start trusting that all is well and know that everything you can see started as an idea, a thought if you like... Once you think on that for a moment you understand anything is possible. I have spent the last few weeks car hunting after having my car written off.. I became quite frustrated with the hunting process but last night I asked for help before going to sleep. The help arrived as it always does and today the very car I had been looking for showed up...... I thought it up and it happened....

Be still.. try not to do... let desires go and let freedom in. Remember that the EGO stands for edging God out ... 

Looking forward very much to verse 4