Until the Mud Settles...

    In chapter 15 of the Tao Te Ching Lao Tzu writes:

Do you have the patience to wait
Until your mud settles and the water becomes clear?
Can you remain unmoving
Until the right action arises by itself?

    There is great wisdom in these two questions for they speak to the heart of what often ails us.  When faced with challenging situations (We will consider interpersonal relationships for the sake of this conversation.) we are often overcome with the impulse to react rather than having the patience to wait for them to unfold - at which point we are more likely to recognize right action.  With this in mind let’s take a moment to look at these two questions but first, let’s consider the mechanism of our reactivity.
    When we react to a challenging situation what is actually happening within us?
    1)  There is an environmental stimulus (e.g., a slight by a coworker, an insensitive comment from a romantic partner, a non-cooperative child, etc.).
    2)  We judge that stimulus negatively; it doesn’t jibe with the way we think the world should be.
    3)  We have an emotional reaction as the result of our judgment.
    4)  We have a physiological reaction as the result of our emotional reaction.
    5)  We act, in order to alleviate the mental, emotional, and physiological tension that has arisen within us.
    Understanding this, let look at these two questions.

Do you have the patience to wait
Until your mud settles and the water becomes clear?

    While taking action in the midst of challenging situations can be cathartic it is often not productive because we take those actions under mental, emotional, and physiological stress.  That stress is the stuff of Lao Tzu’s mud metaphor. That is, when we act under conditions of stress our vision is “muddy” and we incorrectly perceive the situation. Incorrectly perceiving the situation we often take wrong action.  Hence Lao Tzu’s counsel to have the patience to wait until our mud settles (stress dissipates) and the water becomes clear.

Can you remain unmoving
Until the right action arises by itself?

    Having patience means to “remain unmoving;” not to take action.  There are two benefits in not taking action until the mud has settled.  First, not taking action until the mud settles prevents us from taking unproductive (or even destructive) action.  Second, not taking action until the mud settles allows clarity of vision to give rise to right action. Note the language here - “give rise to right action.”
    Lao Tzu tells us that “right action arises by itself” and this is true.  The action needed in a given situation tends to emerge of its own accord when we can occupy a neutral position relative to that situation rather than being overly identified with it (Hopefully the reader recognizes this as different language summarizing what we’ve just discussed.).  It can be hard to understand or have faith in this when we are in the midst of challenging situations, when the cathartic impulse to act is so strong. However, if we can manage to heed Lao Tzu’s counsel to have the patience to wait until the mud settles we will see, even after just a few instances, that he is correct.