Self-Organization???? OS just one of 18?

[Glory Ressler]

Hi all!

Julie's post on Meister Eckhart's 'letting go' and 'letting be' reminded
me of a little story that helps me to remember to live that way... :-)

It came to me from Amy and Arny Mindell's site ( www.aamindell.net ) and
is entitled:

How to Build a Taoist Temple

Once upon a time there were four Taoists who had nothing much to do.
Each lived in a different part of town. Without the ability to call one
another and talk about things on the phone, they had to depend upon
something else. In fact, that was their whole job "to follow that
"something else". Most people thought these four were very funny or else
very weird. No one could ever tell why those four did what they did.
Even the Taoists themselves did not know!

Anyway, one day something got in their heads at about the same time.
Each thought to herself, "Why not build a temple?" Quite spontaneously
they all decided to leave their homes and begin walking through the
streets of the town, not knowing the others were doing the same!

While meandering through the city, one of them suddenly stopped abruptly
because of a raging fight on a street corner. She always thought weird
things, and this time was no different. She thought to herself, “What a
great place for a temple”, and immediately began collecting rocks from
the gutter, twigs and beer cans from the street, and dirt and broken
glass from the sidewalk. She used them all to make the most sacred
place, muttering all the while to herself as she worked,  "Just
building, doing nothing much".

Just as she settled into her work, the people who were fighting turned
away from each other, and--- barely looking at her - screamed with all
their might, "You good for nothing!" and promptly continued their
fighting. They threw rocks at one another, and some at hurt her as well.
She caught these rocks and joyously said mainly to herself, "thank you,
thank you!" and added them to her structure which was growing rapidly.
Just then, a dog came by and urinated in the gutter. She held out a
broken cup and said again, "thank you, thank you" and mixed it with the
dirt to form mortar.

A kind of stucco-like building began to emerge from her work. It became
so large that she could not see the conflict anymore. Nevertheless, she
could hear their voices yelling on the other side of the wall. One of
them was screaming at the other, "You never take my side! In fact, you
insult me. You good for nothing & I hate you!"

As soon as she heard this, the Taoist muttered to herself, "Thank you,
thank you", repeating each of their words ever so slowly, treasuring
some awesome presence she sensed behind each syllable. "Thank you, thank
you", she muttered. "This is the energy I need to build my temple. I was
otherwise so tired today".

Finally, the structure was almost complete. She felt well within its
walls, but knew she had to leave because she was all alone inside. As
she got to the door, she could not see but heard the screaming begin
once again! Without a moment's hesitation, she joined noise and screamed
at the top of her voice as well. She yelled, "We never met before, who
the hell are you?" Now the screaming of the others abated as they came
around the corner and looked in the doorway. To her surprise, she heard
them say "Well, how do you do? We know each other!" And she recognized
the three other Taoist priests!

That is how four Taoist priests built a temple. Three had a conflict and
the other one loved it!

Best wishes,
glory :-)
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