Trusted without speaking.
They gain without seeking,
Succeed without striving.
They take naturalness to heart,
Preserve ultimate reality,
Embrace the Way,
And promote sincerity,
So the whole world follows them as echoes
Respond to sounds;
As shadows imitate forms.
What they work on is the root.
- Wen-tzu, courtesy of dailyzen.com
Anyone who comes in for psychotherapy is, by default, stimulating their inner sage. We all have the capacities for everything that is described in this poem. In therapy we work on the root. That does not necessarily mean long conversations about childhood experience. The root is the basic assumptions we have about our self, our life, and our world. As new ideas emerge in our conversations, ultimate reality is preserved. What we take for granted becomes a rich experience of wonder and amazement. Our capacity to modify and change our basic assumptions helps us to take this naturalness to heart and promote a sincerity in our personal growth. A natural outcome of this work is a cultivated benevolence and selfless regard for others. We are the Way.
