Thirty - Ahinsa
Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of the Tao,
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
As I have mentioned in earlier posts, I have found many connections between the truths of Taoism and the experience I am gaining from throwing pottery on the wheel. There is a timeless truth in the notion that the application of force can rebound upon the unwise. As a general principle of behavior, strength of character can never be gained by the application of force or violence in the world. This lesson is something that I find reflected in the process of throwing a piece of pottery.
The first step when one goes to the wheel is called “centering.” I think that it is no coincidence that we often think of good spiritual, emotional, and psychic health as being “centered.” When one centers a piece of clay on a spinning wheel, the application of force or violence will always lead to disaster. Instead one places one’s body in such a way that the clay becomes, in a sense, part of the centered being that is an extension of your body. One’s hands are placed on the clay and as a result of the centering of one’s body, the resistance provided to the spinning clay causes it to center itself. In fact, all of us in class have days when this just does not go well. No matter how hard one tries, one cannot get the clay centered on the wheel. In every case, the reason is that one is having trouble being centered oneself. I don’t mean this in a mystical sense, but instead, in a physical sense. You could argue that there is some connection between the two, and I won’t dispute that. But here is a lesson for life in general; when you push the world, the world pushes back. This is not The Way.