at the diner

Express yourself completely,
then keep quiet.
Be like the forces of nature:
when it blows, there is only wind;
when it rains, there is only rain;
when the clouds pass, the sun shines through.

If you open yourself to the Tao,
you are at one with the Tao
and you can embody it completely.
If you open yourself to insight,
you are at one with insight
and you can use it completely.
If you open yourself to loss,
you are at one with loss
and you can accept it completely.

Open yourself to the Tao,
then trust your natural responses;
and everything will fall into place.
-- Stephen Mitchell, Chapter 23, Tao Te Ching

We are sitting at the back table of a local diner.

Lao Tzu is having tea. I have a cup of hot black coffee. Jesus has a glass of water.

Jesus said: "You have a right and a left, a front and a back. What is in the middle?"

"Room. Capaciousness." said Lao Tzu. "Like your glass of water has room for the water."

"My room inside condenses and expands." I said. "Sometimes I am full of me and there is no room at all."

"No room, no Tao flow," said Lao Tzu.

"No room, no Spirit flow," said Jesus.

"See that person who just came in?" said Jesus. "She is going through great loss. She is suffering."

I turned and looked.

"She doesn't look it." I said.

"That is because she is not bitter or angry, not depressed and defeated." said Lao Tzu.

"The suffering of her loss is making room. She is surrendering and opening." said Jesus.

"She will be fine," said Lao Tzu, looking at Jesus. "The Christ Child of the Spirit will be born within her because she has room in the In."

Jesus laughed and said, "And quoting some old guy: 'and everything will fall into place.' "