Verse 54

54.

Whoever is planted in the Tao

will not be rooted up.

Whoever embraces the Tao

will not slip away.

She who honours the Tao

will be honoured from generation to generation.

If the Tao is cultivated in your life

you will become genuine.

If the Tao is cultivated in your family

your family will flourish.

If the Tao is cultivated in your country

your country will be an example

to all countries in the world.

If the Tao is cultivated in the world,

then virtue will be with everyone.

How do I know this is true?

By looking inside myself.

To simply read and try to understand the words of the Tao Te Ching is insufficient. Each verse is an invitation to embody and actually live the wisdom of the Tao. This verse again emphasises the virtue of coming into alignment with the Tao; which is not so much something to be striven for, but simply allowed to happen. When we clear the obstructions to our true nature, we can be firmly planted in the Tao and nothing in the world of the 10,000 things will be able to uproot us.

The effects of being at one with our source, with the Tao, will spread outward like ripples across the surface of a pond, for in truth nothing exists in isolation. We can transform the world by first transforming ourselves, by consciously living the Tao.

This allows us to cultivate the way of the Tao in all our actions and interactions: in our family life, our work life, among our friends and gradually the effects will spread outward to encompass our whole country and world. Even if the effects are subtle or seemingly invisible, they are there nonetheless. By changing ourselves and coming into alignment with the truth of our being, we make it easier for others to do so. The elevation of our own consciousness is therefore perhaps the greatest gift we can give the world.