For several years I used a non-dominant writing method to access inner wisdom and guidance. When my left hand once wrote about seeing through all illusions to the reality of the truth, I was counseled not only to see the truth, but also to “live the seeing.” Strange wording, but the advice stuck with me.
The Chinese word “By‘ in the title of the Dao De Jing teaches us a lot about the life of seeing. By is often translated as virtue, but it does not mean virtue in the sense of morality. It is also translated as power, but not in the sense of power over someone or something. To me, By means the virtue of harmony with, and the power inherent in, the natural order of all creation.
We are part of creation. We come from Dao and have this virtue and power in us By, just like every other part of creation. We can’t not have it. So how do we make ourselves aware of it? How do we ‘see’ it and ‘live it’?
The Chinese character for By is a beautiful visual representation of this concept.
The right side of the character consists of two components. At the top is 直, which means upright, straight, correct. It consists of two parts: ten that is the number 10, and 目 meaning eye. Think about what you could see if you had ten eyes.
At the bottom right is 心, which means heart. Put that together and you have the all-seeing vision of the heart. This is the “seeing” part of “live the seeing.”
On the left side of the character is 彳, which means you need to take a step or move forward. This is the ‘living’ part, which encourages us to move forward in our lives, guided by the all-seeing vision of the heart. This takes courage and confidence. We must trust the guidance of our hearts and have the courage to follow it.
Sometimes it takes some practice to get out of our heads long enough to listen to our hearts and discern their guidance. How can we be sure that the guidance we receive comes from the wisdom of the heart? I have learned that heart guidance will always and without fail lead me to the path of love.
So live the seeing. Experience it with every breath, with every word, with every thought, with every heartbeat. Live it until you see only its beauty, until you feel only its embrace, until you fully become the love that you truly are.
And now here is my secret, a very simple secret: only with the heart can you see clearly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince
