The Middle Way and The Divine Flow

August 15, 2010

Dear Friends,

One of my favorite movies—and especially Carol’s—is “Little Buddha.” Although two stories are depicted concurrently in this film, the basic tale is about Prince Siddhartha of India, and how he became the Buddha.

In a pivotal scene, Siddhartha witnesses a man teaching a boy to play a stringed instrument. The man tells the boy, “If the strings are too loose, they won’t play. If they are too tight, they will break.”

It is at this moment in the movie that Siddhartha discovers the wisdom of “The Middle Way,” an enlightened way of life that avoids extremes in favor of moderation.

This is not unlike the wisdom of “rowing with the flow.”

If you have no goals or dreams in life, you are too “loose.” You are just aimlessly drifting. And living life in the divine flow is not about drifting. It’s about actively participating in the manifestation of what brings you joy. It’s about consciously choosing a destination and rowing towards it.

If you do have a destination in mind—a desire that you’d like to fulfill—but you are pursuing that goal relentlessly, always pushing, driving, and forcing your way forward, then you are too “tight.” And one day you may break.

Rowing with the flow is “the middle way.” You choose your destination, and you row towards it, but you row gently—pausing between each and every stroke of your oars to discern the next right step that you feel you are being divinely guided to take.

You don’t force things to go the way you think they should go, or try to control and manipulate outcomes. Instead, you remain flexible enough to continually adjust to the course of the current . . . willing to move in a direction that is different from what you expected . . . and even willing to arrive at a destination that is different from the one you originally set out for.

So, friends, what will it be? Do you want to drift through life listening only to the music created by the well-tuned instruments of other people? Or do you want to create some music of your own? If it’s the latter, just make sure that your strings are not too loose, or too tight. Remember to follow “the middle way”—attuning yourself to the divine flow. Do that, and the music you make will be especially harmonious.

Steven

© 2010 by Steven Lane Taylor
Author of Row, Row, Row Your Boat:
A Guide for Living Life in the Divine Flow
www.rowrowrow.com