Tao Te Ching Verse 10: One

Tao Te Ching Verse 10When the intelligent and animal souls are held together in one embrace, they can be kept from separating. When one gives undivided attention to the (vital) breath, and brings it to the utmost degree of pliancy, he can become as a (tender) babe. When he has cleansed away the most mysterious sights (of his imagination), he can become without a flaw.In loving the people and ruling the state, cannot he proceed without any (purpose of) action? In the opening and shutting of his gates of heaven, cannot he do so as a female bird? While his intelligence reaches in every direction, cannot he (appear to) be without knowledge?(The Tao) produces (all things) and nourishes them; it produces them and does not claim them as its own; it does all, and yet does not boast of it; it presides over all, and yet does not control them. This is what is called 'The mysterious Quality' (of the Tao).Photo by Himanshu Singh Gurjar on UnsplashMerging Duality and Becoming OneLao Tzu encourages us to give birth and nurture, to give birth without taking possession, act without appropriation, and rule without domination.I like to think that these things are just different ways of talking about freely giving without any expectation of return.See, if I buy into this false sense of separation I have, I am always looking to make sure that I am safe and even well-kept.  This sense of separation I have is what causes me to expect something in return.  My five senses provide input for my brain.  My brain analyses this input and concludes that its surroundings are a certain way.  So it’s working the way it’s supposed to as a biological thing.  But there’s a part of me that wonders about, thinks about, and tries things out in response to what my brain is telling me.  That’s my mind, or that intangible thing that seems to know what’s going on.  Now - there’s another part - a feeling, sensing part - that is how I experience an innate connection with animals, other people, and the universe - and that is summed up in one cool word - love.  While my brain and physiology play a part in this word’s manifestations, it comes from a sense of oneness, rather than separation.  So can we see how this sense of separation from others isn’t really accurate?  Physically, sure, at least on the macro scale, we seem to be separate entities.  But we know now that at the subatomic scale, everything is connected.  Quantum physics tells us about this in detail.  Our mistake isn’t in realizing that we are separate things on the macro scale.  Rather, I feel like our mistake is taking this sense so seriously and buying into it.  Because it’s the buying into it that causes us to create the ego, which is responsible for all manner of harmful behaviors, both toward ourselves and others.  Buying into this false sense of separation causes us to ultimately live in discord, rather than in harmy, with the Tao.  And we know where that leads!But that doesn’t mean I throw everything away.  It just means that I can readjust how my mind perceives what my brain is telling me.  I don’t have to think my ego is evil and want to destroy it.  All I need to do is detach from the importance I place on it and re-appropriate my mind’s perception of reality into something more holistic.And this is the part where we take that Duality we talked about in Verse 2 and smoosh those two parts back together to make a whole, beautiful, and perfect...One.