Extending
Not too distant.
4. Do 1-3 simultaneously without thinking. As soon as you start thinking, stop doing anything.
This is not nearly as hard as it sounds. 1-3 are, in reality, different ways of saying the same thing. What we are after is an attitude rather than merely a set of instructions. This rule is to place further emphasis on the idea of responding quickly and intuitively and not slowly and premeditatedly. The rule complements and reinforces the other ideas about silence. This could allow some to use the T.M. method of creativity by letting the ideas pop into the mind on their own "like a light bulb."
210
Joy is not . . .
The harmonious flux from Heaven.
Conscious verbal thought does not necessarily exclude action but it certainly can replace it sometimes making the actions nothing but slow reactions or reflections of the original images of the mind that flowed so closely and in harmony with the external stimuli. This type of working requires a lot of faith but it completely eliminates the fear of creating. The fear goes away with respect to the amount that one becomes detached from the results.
Neither feasting nor elegance.
Sniffing, sobbing, dumbly gnawing;
These are distinctive signs
Of wailing at the door.
If I think of this in terms of another situation, say a verbal discussion, this might be modified in order to allow some verbal thought so long as it stays with or can be changed by the other ideas coming out in the conversation. The art of acting without feeling self-conscious is difficult and requires a great deal of practice. One may start with what one may do unself-consciously and gradually add other actions that can become less self-conscious. I have found from working with the "emotionally disturbed" that they are generally the most inhibited people with whom I have ever worked. "Acting crazy" happens more in the form of action restrained by self-consciousness and non-action rather than actions which are merely unexpected.
211-212
Neither feasting nor elegance.
Propriety and joy waste away.
Brush away the silken veils,
Cast off the bridal ornaments;
Perished is the spouse's heart.
A person who decides to use this piece as a world view could probably do so without changing anything about him/herself. One may act just as morally and responsibly as ever before, but as an intuitive response to outside stimuli. All that is required is a sort of presence in which one is paying attention to his/her environment at every moment. Global attention can be practiced through performance, ritual, or meditation.
213
Great joy, without speaking to the people's soul;
Birds of all kinds wheeling about in pleasure.
Chaos is not a four-lettered word, nor is randomness. Nothing is entirely random or in any kind of "perfect" (or predictable) order. When reading Aristotle one get's the impression that he seemed to think that perfect was synonymous with predictable. I, on the other hand, enjoy what I experience most when it occurs unexpectedly. It is a gift from God, most valuable when it is most unexplainable. I think that it is better for one to adapt oneself for the unexpected rather than always trying to force every little activity into what one thinks ought to happen. It is amazing to see how things seem to fall into place about as fast as one can begin to think about or anticipate them. There is nothing really new about the goals of this kind of exercise. I believe it is the Tao. This can be very rational but unpredictable behavior like the photons which are particles which act like waves. They seem more unpredictable the closer we can "observe" them. However, at a relatively great distance, such as seeing the reflection from a mirror, our experience tells us that light reflects at an angle equal to the angle of its incidence. I believe that if we had the tools for predicting the presently unpredictable aspect of photon behavior, we would also know of many other areas even more puzzling. At least, that is what I want to happen. I do not want everything to be already known so that I will only have to be told all the truths of the world. I know that we have all put together our information differently and that new information is then generated by a matrix of juxtapositions. Several humans juxtaposing ideas simultaneously increases the learning process exponentially. This may be experienced in music, dance, art, conversation, science, . . .