A baby is totally at ease and gets the best from what the nature endows.
Tao Te Ching constantly reminds us to go back to our root.
One way to do so is to bring back the baby in you.
Do you remember the ways you behaved when you were a baby? If you can’t, let’s look around and see how a baby behaves! There is so much for you to ‘reinstate’.
First of all, a baby does not have the inhibition, timidity and pretension of an adult. She behaves naturally, and learns naturally.
See how a baby discovers the world around her. She’s not afraid to ask the silliest questions, because she’s never thought herself to be silly. When she’s given an answer, she listens wholeheartedly, and never assumes stupidity in any of the answers given.
See how a baby learns! When she learns a language, she immerses in the sounds and tones, and picks it up with speed and excellence. When she learns to swim, she lets go and floats; allowing the skills to it comes to her as if a second nature.
She learns fast, because she is not learning!
She simply does it, often to satisfy her curiosity, to enjoy the process, to have fun — rather than realizing any intention to learn.
This was how you originally were, but growing up has deprived you of the unsophistication. And you lost the natural you!
See how a baby breathes! The air goes right to the tummy, and she inhales in a full capacity for every breath. As adult, we have somehow lost the skills, and breathe every so shallowly.
See how a baby laughs! It comes all the way from her heart. So does the way she cries. Nothing stops her from expressing her true feeling.
She is totally at ease, and gets the best from what the nature endows.
If you can see the merits of behaving in a way like a baby and retain more of it, you will be surprised how you’d be able to regain many of the gifts from nature that we have unwittingly thrown away in the process of growing up.
It is also the best way to learn about what Tao is! Tao is about nature after all.
“Can you focus your breath
as supple as a newborn child?Can cleanse your vision
till there is no blemish?”Tao Te Ching quotes – Verse 10
Hi Soon,
This is a beautiful post. So good to remember this basic truth. Babies are fresh new humans so they certainly have everything in great working order before life (and time) wear it down. What a great reminder.