All posts by : Jason Gregory

How Your Body Can be an Extension of the Universe is the eighth video in the series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I explain how the universe can be an extension of your body. When we trust completely, our physical, mental, and spiritual planes of consciousness harmonize with the heartbeat of the Earth. When we have cleared the passage for Tao to function through us with its natural velocity, the rhythms of our bodily functions and vibrations of our mental states move as an extension of the Earth. A perfect example of this complete trust and harmony with the planet is the Kon-Tiki expedition of Norwegian ethnographer and adventurer Thor Heyerdahl in 1947. In this amazing story Heyerdahl and his crew drifted on a balsa-wood raft from Peru out into the vastness of the Pacific Ocean. Heyerdahl had a trust that his own organism and the ecosystem of the Pacific would harmonize together as one if they were given the time to do so. Find out what happens next.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

The Taoist Natural Way vs. Confucian Social Control is the seventh video in the series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I explain how the Taoism of Lao-tzu emphasized that if we do not let individuals grow as nature intended, they will lose their naturalness and be drawn into the world of animal drives, desires, attachments, and ultimately suffering. The Way of the Tao and our experience of it comes from allowing all aspects of the universe to happen as they will without conscious interference. This understanding of Tao is a trust in and affirmation of life that cannot be broken. Humanity’s superficial differences could be dissolved if each individual could live by this trust. Yet society and culture have been built on ideologies such as Confucianism, communism, and democracy, which all teach us in some way to impose our will over one another, a goal based on the erroneous idea that we are achieving freedom in this process. To trust the Way of the Tao is the complete backflip to Confucianism or any present-day ideology or theology. Lao-tzu’s wisdom exposes humanity’s selfish tendency to impose the will of one individual, nation, religion, race, or gender over another. We are always interfering with each other’s natural sovereignty. Many people arrogantly and ignorantly do this daily and then proclaim that they know what freedom and love are. How can we listen and help each other if it is merely from our own cultural, social, or religious perspective? If we have a set of beliefs to sell another, then we are surely imposing our idea of life upon her without letting her grow as nature intended.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

Why a Taoist is a Threat to Society is the sixth video in the series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I explain how the virtuous individual always presents danger to social, religious, and cultural systems that seek to bind humanity with superficial constraints. The individual who knows and follows the Tao is a threat because their way of being is liberated from the shackles of external influence. From the cultural, religious, and social perspective, these individuals are rebels who threaten to disrupt the hypnosis of the status quo. True and eternal freedom is loathed by the tyrants of cultural, ideological, theological, social, and religious dogmas, because when we are liberated by the true freedom that we can only find within us, we cease to conform to the machinations of tyranny. The rebellion of Lao-tzu’s Taoist Way has always posed a threat to the established order, especially in China. True Taoism was suppressed in the first decades of the People’s Republic of China (with people even persecuted during the Cultural Revolution), though it continued to be practiced in Taiwan. Taoism has often been scorned because the essential Taoist teaching of wu-wei is about surrendering your life into the comforting arms and the Way of the universe rather than conforming to social ethics. This eternal truth, known only by some people, frustrates those who know it not. In the eyes of an established ideology, theology, or organized religion, this experiential truth disrupts the social indoctrination that keeps the masses moving to the beat of someone else’s drum.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

Taoist Wisdom for Embracing Life and Yourself is the fifth video in the series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I explain how the heart of Eastern wisdom teaches you to be naturally in the world without rejecting it. Many spiritual paths condemn and judge the world, as if they were enabling one to move beyond desires. But many fail to realize that they are desiring not to desire. Lao-tzu saw all these pursuits of desiring not to desire as nothing more than spiritual pride and a moving away from our human nature. The Taoist perspective is to leave no stone unturned in an embrace of life and yourself.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

The Intrinsic Beauty of Nature is the fourth video in a series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I will explain the organic pattern and order of the universe that is a blueprint for nature to express its beauty. This organic pattern originates within an organism as its nature and comes into existence when an organism harmonizes with the Tao.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

The Tao of Unconditional Love is the third video in a series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this film I explore what it truly means to love without boundaries. Our love has to exceed our boundaries to include not only our neighbors but also our so-called enemies. Thus if we can be radical enough to live wu-wei, the right social and cultural conditions will emerge that will enable people to realize the Tao, and this will change our world through not striving for change. The act of trying to force change hinders change. Following your own nature is the subtle act of change. It is also the way that love transcends the personal and moves into the universal. The love you share is the love you are.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

The Natural Human is the second film in a series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this film I explore what it truly means for a human to be as nature intended us to be, essentially embodying the naturalness we all have within, with no external form of governance needed. The order and pattern of nature is not a forced order, as nature is not bound by external influence or control. The Taoist term for nature is the Chinese tzu-jan (ziran), which means that which is spontaneously of itself. When a natural organism is in harmony with all life, it grows of itself spontaneously. Tzu-jan can only arise of itself without external compulsion. Tzu-jan is the essence of the yoking process found within the spiritual core of many religions, and especially in the origins of Chinese and Indian wisdom. When we withdraw from our conditioned perception of reality, we come back into nature and grow spontaneously in harmony with all other components of life. What would happen if we let go of control? When we leave the animal, plant, and mineral kingdoms alone, they continue to grow and prosper without any interference. What would happen, then, if we left people alone?

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

Trust the Universe is the first video in a series based on my Effortless Living audiobook. In this video, I explore how and why we should trust the universe from a Taoist perspective. The Tao can only make use of you when you are empty of all that blocks a union between yourself and the universe. The peace that resides in the unity of trust allows the individual to harmonize with the world. This not only brings the light of Tao into the world but also guides and helps the individual along their journey through life. When we trust, the universe answers us through the resonance of our experience. The feeling of oneness brings the individual back into accord with the function of the universe.

Effortless Living Audiobook https://amzn.to/31uNLQq

NOTE: This site directs people to Amazon and is an Amazon Associate member. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. The pages on this website may contain affiliate links, which means I may receive a commission if you click a link and purchase something that I have recommended.

https://youtu.be/PY5pfN_Xxh8%20

In this episode of Enlightenment Today, I will speak about if we are blessed. Many people proclaim to be blessed based on their fortunate experiences in life which are usually based on pleasure. Personally claiming to be blessed is purely egotistical, especially considering you are implying that you are more special than someone else. From a spiritual perspective, feeling that one is blessed over others is the result of a me-centered spirituality based on individualism. This is a subtle psychopathy many people exhibit. But this does not mean we are not blessed. Once we realize that we are no more special than anyone or anything else, then we will discover that what we all are deep down within is the only blessing we need and is actually the only one we receive in life.

In this episode of Enlightenment Today, I will speak about the ultimate sage showdown between Lao-tzu and Confucius. Both sages have diametrically opposed philosophies and viewpoints on the nature of humans and the irreducible essence of the Tao. These differences are showcased in the opposing metaphors of Lao-tzu’s uncarved block and Confucius’s carving and polishing. Both metaphors try to dissect whether or not humans are naturally good or if we are naturally beasts. These differing views influence our perception of the nature of the Tao, making us believe that either the Tao is natural to the universe with no need for effort or that the Tao needs to be induced through discipline and self-cultivation. Who will win this ultimate battle for sagehood supremacy?