More Deng Ming-Dao

Last night while I was waiting for my Hunny to finish his shift so we could go home I was skimming through ‘Tao 365′ by Deng Ming-Dao for more verses that apply to my characters when I came across something truly awesome.

This one is under the title Writer:

She withdrew into herself,
First just writing for one,
Then touching thousands.
She incarnated ghosts, hurt, and joy
Into paper-and-ink stories of wonder.

Deng Ming-Dao

This just makes me smile. He goes on to talk about writers need to write and how we hear voices that others do not. That we go to that special place inside our heads (hearts/souls?) and must express whatever we find there. We have to ride the flow out and how that special place inside us is just like the Tao.

I just have to smile over this so much. I also have another book called ‘The Tao of Writing’ by Ralph L. Wahlstrom. When I bought that book I was still in the stages of glancing at ‘Taoism for Dummies’ because I had trouble putting it in a direct light, a way I could understand. Not an uncommon problem since in essence the Tao is undefinable but that’s what I like about it.

When I apply it to writing, that feeling comes over me just before and while I’m letting the words- no, not just the words, the stories and images pour out of me… it’s just so amazing. To just be and flow, to know that this feeling is what drives me, that I can gain such peace and contentment out of creating… it’s all so wow.

I’m really starting to think this path or philosophy is right for me. Not only because most of my base beliefs already flow along these lines but this is what I need in life. I’ve had the first half of things down all along but for my own well being the rest would do me good.

Do what you must when you must do it. Don’t fall into the deeply carved ruts of others that make you do things that are needless and cause equally needless problems. Don’t try, just do. Relax and flow. Be and if you are not happy with what you are change it and be that. Do what makes you happy. Bend to change but never break. Overcome adversity with the power of flow. I really do love it.

By the way, for those of you who read my Tao based character sketch, remember the joke I made about how my characters might be Taoists and I don’t even know it? Well, it turns out one of them is. How funny is that?

This might not make sense to some but sometimes you can’t control the choices your characters make. Girls turn into boys, friends become lovers, someone kills someone or has a motive you never thought about till your fingers brought it to the attention of your eyes. It’s almost like channeling sometimes. You never know what you’ll be told.

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