chapter 7

Heaven is long and Earth is lasting
Heaven and Earth can be long and lasting because they do not live for themselves.
Therefore - they can be long-lived

For this reason,
The sage
withdraws himself
but comes to the fore,
alienates himself
but is always present.

Is this not because he is free of private interests?
Therefore,
He can accomplish his private interests.

-Victor H. Mair translation

If we wish to walk the path of immortality, we should have some idea of how this is accomplished. To the ancients, nothing could be more long lasting than Heaven and Earth. These factors will far outlive our miniscule existences... and are inconcievably ancient.

Lao Tze tells us that the reason that this can be is that they are selfless. If we feel into the idea of having a self, we can observe (if we are honest) a subtle sense of contraction. All ideas of a self are composed of boundaries or borders. One cannot have a self without having a non-self to compare it with. According to the ancient traditions, it is this subtle sense of contraction that cuts us off to the flow of infinite life from the universe.

This is all, the entire secret of eternal Life.

Thus, all the great teachers have given us a path of Compassion as the way to discover our immortality.

Lao Tze goes on to describe this:
"the sage withdraws himself, but comes to the fore"
This does not necessarily mean that a person should belittle the personality in an unhealthy way. What we recognize here is the Law of Karma. The greatest factor influencing the reality we see manifest to us is the actions we put forth into the world. Our minds continually manifest our deepest beliefs about reality (this can be observed without much difficulty if one is mindful). When our actions reflect beliefs that individuals should help each other out, that others deserve our aid and upliftment, we see ourselves acting out these beliefs and come to believe them more strongly. Eventually - this all comes back around and we find our own selves being uplifted. And then we are worthy of upliftment, because our own initiatives are the same as those as the Great Dao - to love and promote all things. This is reflected in the last lines:

"is this not because he is free of private interests? therefore, he can accomplish his private interests"

The Dao is the greatest power in the Universe - it is the power of the universe. If we want all the power we could imagine, all we need do is to align with it. It is this power that comes to infuse the body of the sage who has expanded her sense of "self" until there is no sense of boundary and constriction. This being has no feelings of discomfort, because there is no need to affirm a separate reality through pain. With no feelings of discomfort, the blockages in the internal energy channels are dissolved, and one experiences herself as infinity.