“Be utterly humble
And you shall hold to the foundation of
peace.
Be at one with all these living things
which, having arisen and flourished,
Return to the quiet whence they came,
Like a healthy growth of vegetation
Falling back upon the root.
Acceptance of this return to the root has
been called ‘quietism….’”
(An excerpt from
#16 from The Way of Life, according
to Lao Tzu, translated by Witter Bynner, 1994)
I’ve been thinking a lot about what I want to share on
this blog post and how to begin. I
recently returned from spending the month of September at a nursing home in
Naperville, Illinois, caring for my 92-year-old Mother. It’s hard to put into words what that
experience entailed.
My Mom has always been filled with energy and she is one
who loves meeting people and talking with them.
However, I was called back home at the end of August because my Mom’s
illness had taken a turn for the worse; and the doctors felt she literally had only a
few days left on this earth.
When I arrived, she was out of the hospital and in a
rehabilitation center to rebuild her strength.
She was actually sitting outside of the center in a wheel chair waving
at me. I had so prepared myself to be
ready to support her in her last moments on this earth. Instead, she appeared to be fine, in good
spirits and not ready to leave this plane yet!
While spending time at the rehabilitation center, as I’d
walk down the halls to my Mom’s room, I couldn’t help but notice many aged
people who were barely hanging onto life.
They appeared to be literally withering away. Of course, there were people of younger
generations who were healing from surgeries or illnesses, too; but they were experiencing more
of a temporary situation as opposed to a terminal illness. I couldn’t help but ponder the whole process
of life.
As Lao Tzu stated in the quote above, healthy vegetation
begins “falling back upon the root.” I
think of my little great-nieces and great-nephews, who are like little sprouts
just beginning to grow, taking in the energy of the sun. Later, as plants gain strength, they blossom
– humans do the same when they mature and begin to create and build their
lives. Just as plants have to withstand
the wind and rain and heat and cold, so do humans as they weather the storms of
their lives. Eventually, those little
vibrant plants begin to wither away – they have served their purpose, and so do
we as humans.
However, plants seem to accept each day as it comes – you
don’t see a plant storming off in anger because it’s tired of being rained
upon. Also, plants don’t seem to fight
the process of aging. They accept their
time here on earth and reach what Lao Tzu calls “quietism.” I like that word. I wondered if some of the elderly people were
reaching a point of “quietism” – accepting their last days here and allowing
the aging process to be present – no resistance, no anger, no fear, just
acceptance.
Meanwhile, my Mom is now in a long-term care home so that
she may have constant nursing care. Her resilience
amazed us – she has come back many times from being very close to death. It is like the little “plant” in her keeps
finding sustenance to keep growing instead of “falling back upon the root.” Also, many people were praying for her
health; no doubt God’s Healing Hands gave her strength to carry on.
