I once attended a music conference and was amazed to find myself brushing shoulders with well-known performing artists.  A young music producer I’d befriended noticed my gaping mouth and casually reminded me, “Hey, they wipe their butts just like you do.”

We have a tendency to put people up on pedestals.  This is very much the case in the way we think of wise people of the past... people like Lao-Tzu.  When reading the Tao Te Ching and considering its author, we sometimes envision him as this half-divine master of enlightened wisdom whose understanding is beyond anything the modern mind can fathom.  We can only grasp at the meaning of his nuggets of truth as they come toppling out at us, spilled from the pages of the little book he left behind.

And so I think it’s really funny that Lao-Tzu himself looked back on even earlier “wise men” in the same way we look back on him.  In the 15th verse he praises these ancients for their wisdom which is beyond our ability to fathom.  Wisdom so profound that it simply cannot be described.

Who were these remarkable guys?  I have a good answer for you:  They were guys who wiped their ancient butts just like you do.

I don’t think the old guys had anything over on us.  I’ve known people in my life who were pretty doggone wise and who I’d put up against Lao-Tzu himself.  The main difference is that they haven’t written a book about their thoughts on life. I betcha Lao-Tzu had stressful days when he couldn’t quite get his head out of his own fears and wants and retreat into his inner quiet place.  I betcha Lao-Tzu mumbled some pretty judgmental things under his breath at times when faced with the stupidity of others.  And I’m sure his body made unpleasant noises at times when no one was around to listen.

Lao-Tzu was, after all, a human.  And so were the ancient masters he admired.  But that doesn’t undermine the wisdom they taught.  If anything, it makes it more accessible to us.  It’s okay when we have days when being still and detached from our emotions is more difficult than we can manage.  The ancient wise dudes had days like that too, but they didn’t give up and stop applying themselves.  You can make that same choice.

Yesterday I was telling a friend that I had been watching an episode of the TV show “The Bionic Woman” on my computer.  She quickly pointed out that I had just recently written a rather scathing commentary on our society, referring to people as cattle who graze on mindless TV shows.

Oopsie.

Yeah, I graze every now and then too.  And contrary to popular opinion, I occasionally wipe my rear end in the common manner.  I have days when my fears and wants color my entire world.  Days when I get lonely.  Days when I get discouraged.  But I’ve found something in the Tao Te Ching that works better than anything I’ve come across before at helping me regain my sense of balance and direction.  And there’s nothing to prevent me from putting into practice the same wisdom of those old guys who impressed Lao-Tzu so much.

Like them, I will endeavor to be:

dignified and yet have a naughty smile tickling my face

alert and watchful and yet able to enjoy the water splashing around my toes

a beacon of tranquility rather than a black hole of gloom

a friend rather than a seeker of friends

not so wise that I can’t learn something from every person I meet

a simple and authentic person rather than some desperately crafted image I try to hold of myself

loving and yet gently expecting the best of others

courageous without being a ding-dong

Where will all of these qualities come from?  Not from my belly-button, I’m sure.  Nor will they come from the Tao Te Ching or any other book.  They won’t come from rubbing shoulders with someone more wise than myself.  They won’t come from the mountains or the trees or from eating organic foods or drinking exotic teas.  They won’t come from following someone’s Seven Steps To Enlightenment or any other best-selling program.

These qualities will only arise within me when I take the time to be diligent and pull back from harassing the frantic edges of my world so that I can center myself within this timeless river of who I am.  These qualities will become part of me when I stop feeding my fears and wants and realize that I already have within me everything I need to be complete.  And once I start seeing some of these qualities in myself, I will only hold onto them by letting go and allowing myself to be human and flawed and hilariously in need of an occasional butt-wipe.