THE GATE KEEPER – THE HOLY HUMAN BEING –

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In the previous blog ( THE HUMAN ABILITY) we spoke about the ‘empty’ heart. In ancient China the word ‘heart’ refers to a balanced and equitable joining of thinking and feeling. In the wisdom of Tao, an ‘empty heart’ means that thinking and feeling are not focused on one’s own interest but on the unfathomable.  

A person with an ‘empty’ heart is called a ‘holy person’, a ‘saint’.

In this blog we deepen our insight about the meaning of the word ‘holy’. 

Outwardly seen, ‘holy’ has acquired a somewhat negative meaning, as an equivalent of ‘goody-goody’.

Inwardly seen, with the word ‘holy’ we refer to a person who is whole, or healed. That is someone whose inner temporary nature has fused, has merged, with the timeless nature.

This sounds very simple, but it requires a long-term alchemical process, which might discourage us, because we very well sense that we are not yet saints by far. We still have a long way to go. But we can feel encouraged when realizing that also the ‘holy person’ was not born as such either, but that he or she too – just like us – has started his or her personal life in the dual world.

In the book of Yin Xi we read a remarkable text. In three short sentences he places the characteristics of both the holy person and the not-holy person next to one another. Then it appears that there is not a fundamental difference between the two of them. All quotes in this blog are from that book.

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Every human being finds himself at all times on the path towards Dao, because the timeless nature always falls in with ‘the center’. However, we do not own that nature, just like our life is not our property. In the archaic chaos we find the ‘primordial image’ of the Human Being, such as we are meant to be. In our nature the primordial image expresses itself like a tiny seed, just barely germinating, and we are the gardeners who are allowed to take care of it. This is the mandate that has been given to us. Daoism knows no paradise in which the perfect Human Being once lived, but from which he has fallen. It sees the primordial image going through several stages of development, among which one that is situated in our temporary world.

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Enclosed within a grain of seed lies  information allowing it to grow and develop as it was meant to be. But this is only possible when it gets sufficient light, warmth and water. This metaphor represents the power that emanates from Dao: the De.

The microcosm in which we are living stems from the One-without-Two.

Every development that the microcosm has experienced during many centuries are as it were registered within it. This may raise a profound desire within us – who are living in duality – to reach this state of Unity. To become ‘whole’;  holy. The power of Dao, the De, flows through the microcosm. Longing and power together form what Yin Xi calls: our ability to reach our origin. Whoever realizes this and starts to live accordingly, walks the Path of becoming a ‘holy human being’.

It is composed of three other characters. The basis is the character for ‘king’: 王: three horizontal lines connected by one vertical line. The meaning of the three horizontal lines is:

A Holy Human Being is he or she in whom the Yin and the Yang have dissolved  with each other in the Middle. Then duality has been transformed into one.

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In the process of becoming ‘holy’ the frequency of the energy of the temporary nature is increased; subsequently the temporary nature is transformed into the timeless nature. This fusing is an alchemical process; this vibration is again radiated out into the world by the holy person.

But what about us, ordinary people? After all, we are by far not saints yet. Herein lies the pitfall of dual thinking: we make a distinction by deeming one ‘higher’ than the other. But between the holy and the not-yet-holy there is no essential difference, because the De is omnipresent and works without distinction in everything and everyone. The De gives everyone exactly what he or she needs, nothing more, but never anything less. That is why Yin Xi says about us, ordinary people, the following:

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He does so by refraining from the continuous differentiating of the Yin and the Yang of this world.

That is possible because our origin, human beings, lies in the Unity, while we are living in duality. This is expressed by the character for ‘human’.

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Two and a half thousand years ago Yin Xi the Gate Keeper wrote about the  ‘holy human being’ and the ‘not holy human being’.

Both are equal in construction.

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