Phantoms?

“Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self." (Lao Tzu)

How often we imagine futures in which we are better off in one way or another. Such futures are surely to be hoped for. But wait, what if the future doesn’t turn out that way? In that case, surely it is to be feared. The Tao Te Ching (Chapter 13) reminds us to ask who is doing the hoping and fearing? Aha, the self is at it again.

It’s only human to have hopes and fears, isn’t it? Why call them phantoms? What’s not real about them? An answer could be: Yes, it’s true, we do indeed tend to have hopes and fears. We also tend to have worries, regrets, stress, conflict and confusion. We might then say: Well, can we cherry-pick and just have the good ones and avoid the others?

Well, I think it’s time to smile. The short answer is no, I don’t think we can cherry-pick. It’s all part of the package of being human. I think the longer answer involves becoming aware there are no cherries—or, alternatively, that everything is a cherry. Or, better still, that the label “cherry” doesn’t really help very much at all. Perhaps cherries are no more than phantom-food. Hmm, that’s quite an assertion. This newsletter explores whether it stands up to examination. And, while we’re at it, what are phantoms anyway?

Let’s make a start. What motivates us to do anything? Much of the time what motivates us is the desire to have something be somehow different from the way it currently is. And often there’s nothing wrong with this. We might be desiring anything from eating a meal because we’re hungry, to building a cathedral, to ending illiteracy across the globe. All these are examples of things being different from the way they currently are. And, make no mistake, some of them can be very inspiring.

But desire comes in many shapes and forms. We can also desire “more” of things like, money, security, or the esteem of others. These are in a special category because we can never have “enough” of them. Why not? Because we can always desire more. This is true of all aspects of fame and fortune. (It’s most obvious with material possessions such as a fancy car or house or boat because someone somewhere always has a fancier one.)

However, regardless of what we desire, the way it works is always the same. First, there’s the way things are. Second, there’s the way we want them to be. Between the first and the second there’s a gap, and what we desire is to close the gap. And, if we’re not careful, this desire to close the gap can become the only motivator for much of what we do. When this happens, we set ourselves up for hope and fear and everything else that goes with them.

Hmm. It looks like we’re stuck. Where do we go from here? I think one useful place to go is to ask the question: Who is doing the desiring? Here’s Lao Tzu’s answer.  “Hope and fear are both phantoms that arise from thinking of the self." It’s also the self that goes on to experience hope and fear and everything else we mentioned. So, how do we get unstuck? Lao Tzu tells us how in the very next lines of chapter 13: “When we don’t see the self as self, what do we have to fear?”

What does he mean by “don’t see the self as self”? I think he’s describing how to look through the phantom and out the other side. Outside of our self, the phantom simply does not exist. We, the world, and everything else that we think are separate bits and pieces, are all part of the Oneness/Wholeness that is everything. At this level, all separation is illusion. Unity is the only thing that is eternally real. Everything else just comes and goes.

However, it’s really hard to let go of the concept of our self, isn’t it? So I think Lao Tzu makes it easier for us when he says: “See the world as your self. Have faith in the way things are. Love the world as your self; then you can care for all things” (chapter 13).

How does that make it easier? Because now we’re no longer stuck. Why not? Because Lao Tzu has just shown us how to replace desire for particular things with “care for all things.” And there’s a world of difference between being motivated to act from desire for anything in particular and being motivated by “care for all things.” There’s also a difference when we start from having “faith in the way things are.” But what matters most, in the current context, is that when we do this, the phantoms simply disappear.

Really? Let’s explore this. “The Master sees things as they are, without trying to control them. She lets them go their own way, and resides at the center of the circle” (chapter 29). Does that mean the Master doesn’t do anything; that she just stands by and watches things “go their own way”? No, it doesn’t. It just means when the Master acts she’s coming from the center of the circle; she starts by having “faith in the way things are.”

In contrast, we often tend not to see things as they are. Instead, we see them in terms of what we want them to be. That’s precisely how we introduce the gap. That’s when our self steps in to run the show; when we no longer reside at the center of the circle; when we start to hope for some things and fear others—and that’s when the phantoms appear.

So how do we reside at the center of the circle? In a nutshell, we simply give up our self. (As we’ve just seen, one way to do that is simply to see the world as our “self.”) Here’s Lao Tzu describing what this looks like: “The Master gives himself up… He doesn’t think about his actions; they flow from the core of his being” (chapter 50). Let’s look at that twice. What precisely is the Master giving up? The answer is his “self.” And what precisely is at the core of his being? The answer is the Oneness/Wholeness that is everything. “For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao” (chapter 25).

Thus “The Master keeps her mind always at one with the Tao; that is what gives her her radiance” (chapter 21). So there we have it. That’s how the Master lives in the light—and, in fact, becomes the light. And if there’s one thing that cannot survive in the light it’s a phantom.

So let’s bring this down to earth. Examples that are true for me are any time I’m not coming from “the center of the circle” in what I do; any time I want some outcome in particular; any time I act like I don’t “have faith in the way things are;” any time I act driven by hope or fear. What’s an example that’s true for you?

What if, more often than not, we started from the center of the circle, having faith in the way things are, curious to discover what caring “for all things” might look like, rather than from thinking of our self and what it might happen to desire? If we did this, I wonder how many phantoms might disappear from our lives.

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Francis

IN OTHER NEWS...

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In Harmony with the Tao: A Guided Journey into the Tao Te Ching is available here. There Is No Somewhere Else: Insights from the Tao Te Ching is available here.

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