In 2023, Awakening Together’s founder, Regina Dawn Akers, translated the Tao Te Ching from ancient Chinese into modern English. In this video series, Regina shares:

~ What she found in the Chinese characters used by Lao Tzu
~ Why she translated each chapter the way she did
~ The important messages found in the Tao Te Ching

Summary of Chapters Three through Seven of the Tao Te Ching

You can see how the perception of duality is created if you look at naming and defining carefully. For example, when you praise some individuals as having done a good job, others, who were not praised, feel not good enough. If you say that certain things are valuable, whether that be money, particular possessions, certain experiences, or whatever, others who do not have those things begin to covet them, and some will stoop to unscrupulous ways to obtain the things you’ve overvalued. If people see their leaders wanting and then controlling to get what they want, the people will follow suit. They will want, and they will want to get what they want.

With that said, here is how we can lead:

First, let’s look at ourselves. We can ask: Where am I judging? What do I want? How do I want things my way? When do I try to control what’s happening? When am I dissatisfied with things as they are? Etc. Through this type of inquiry, we begin to see how our own ideas, judgments, and desires are part of the problem, and we will begin to lose interest in them. Afterall, we don’t want to be part of the problem. We want to be part of the solution.

How can we be part of the solution? Abandon our old ways of thinking and deciding, and learn to rely on intuition. The Tao communicates through intuition, not through thinking. As we learn to rely on intuition more and thinking less, we begin to move in harmony with the Tao.

As we practice living by intuition, we witness how the Tao takes care of things. We see that our previous ways of thinking are not helpful and are not needed. We see how the problems we used to create for ourselves and others do not arise when everything is left to the Tao. Instead, everything is arranged naturally and easily, frequently in ways we could never have predicted. By seeing this, we learn to trust the Tao, and so we surrender our thinking and self-will even more, and our harmony with the Tao becomes more obvious.

As our harmony with the Tao is noticed by others, some begin to ask questions. They want the peace and ease that they see we live with. We will then teach them what we have learned through our own direct experience:

“To have peace, let go of thinking you know how things should be. Let go of wanting things to be different than they are. Do not try to control things based on your ideas.”

Living by intuition is different than thinking. It can be called “doing without doing.” It is flowing, and the one that guides the flow, the one that makes all things happen, is the Tao.

The Tao is always available, like a vessel that you use and rinse and reuse again. You do not need to be concerned that it will run out. It won’t. If you begin to worry that it cannot manage some situations, look at nature and the brilliance with which it is managed, and then remember that the Tao is even greater than the brilliance of nature because the Tao is the source of nature’s unfathomable intelligence.

On a macro level, the Tao, when left alone and not interfered with, softens sharpness, smooths out tangles, and merges its divine light with the dust of the world. On a personal level, it can diminish your sharpened sense of self, your strong ideas about who you are as an individual. It will clarify your wisdom, thus eliminating your confusion, and merge its divine nature with your human nature until you cannot distinguish yourself from the Tao. That’s when you see how deep, profound, clear, and mysterious the Tao really is! It is the truth within all things and beyond all things. There is nothing but the Tao, and there never has been anything but the Tao.

How did the Tao come into being? No one knows. It is prior to everything that we are aware of including our highest ideas and most dear ideals.

We must understand that the flow of the Tao is natural, mysterious, and it does not play favorites. Even if you are emperor, you cannot make the Tao flow in the way you want it to. It flows in the way it flows, and that is all.

When you are enlightened to the ways of the Tao, you become like the Tao. Your words and movements are natural, mysterious, and impartial. You do not happen for yourself or for anyone else. You simply happen in the way that you happen.

I say again, when the flow of the Tao is left alone and not interfered with, it is a powerful healing force. It is like a bellows. Just as a bellows can cure an ailing fire, the Tao cures weaknesses in nature and in humanity. Just as a bellows can be used and reused, the Tao is always available to bring healing and light into the world.

Of course, we can talk about the Tao all day and all night, and the talk itself is useless unless this talk inspires you to become centered in the Tao, to abandon your old ways and embrace the intuitive guidance of the Tao. It’s living the Tao that matters.

The Tao is eternal. Just as a woman gives birth to a child, the Tao gives birth to the universe. It exists unceasingly as itself. It is great intelligence without intention, great healing without purpose, the great Before without objective, and the great Now without direction. This is why we call it natural.

Look at the universe and contemplate how long lasting it is. Look at the earth. It is also long lasting, is it not? They are long lasting because they are like the Tao—natural. A thing that is natural is not contrived. A thing that is contrived is deliberate in its ways, intending to move itself and others in a way that suits itself.

In other words, the universe and the earth are long lasting because they do not attempt to interfere with the Tao. They are natural, so they are sustained by what is natural.

We can learn from them.

Here are the natural ways of leadership:

Leaders support the ones they lead. Instead of asking others to bend to their will, leaders sense the direction of the people and lead them in the direction they are already going. Said another way, they intuit the flow, follow the flow, and in this way, lead others in harmony with the flow.

Leaders are not concerned about gaining for themselves. However, because they are flowing with what’s natural, what’s natural sustains them. Leaders maintain this momentum by releasing ideas of lack, by ignoring selfish impulses, and by remaining in line with integrity. This is how leaders stay in harmony with the flow.