The Tao Te Ching is revered as one of the most powerful cannons of wisdom about leadership and governing, used by teachers, monks, chiefs, generals, and emperors for centuries. The Way with Children, by author M. Shayne Gallagher, offers a "transduction" of the Tao Te Ching into a version useful to those who work with young people as a leader. Any teacher, school administrator, program staff member, coach, mentor, and especially parent, can benefit by gaining an understanding of the principles illuminated by the Tao Te Ching, especially one translated into a version just for them. Written with special care to instruct the instructor, The Way with Children contains a series of passages and poems. It’s a tool designed to help one ponder and re-center to benefit relationships through a discovery of ancient truths. As a student of the Tao Te Ching for more than thirty years and as one who has worked with troubled teenagers in behavioral health programs for nearly as long, the principles have helped Gallagher understand how to work with at-risk youth. He shares those ideas in The Way with Children.
The Way with Children
Ancient Wisdom For Leading Modern Young People
By M. Shayne Gallagher, Josh SteadmanBalboa Press
Copyright © 2017 M. Shayne Gallagher
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-5043-7713-3Contents
Foreword, viii,
The Legend of Lao Tzu, xii,
The Tao Te Ching and The Way with Children, xiv,
The Writing, xvi,
Using This Book, xvii,
The manner of writing, xx,
1 Dispense, 2,
2 Regard, 4,
3 Clear and Simple, 5,
4 Something Is There, 7,
5 Inexhaustible Capacity, 8,
6 Without Effort, 9,
7 Not for Self, 10,
8 Free of Blame, 11,
9 Calamity, 13,
10 Only with Your Heart, 14,
11 That Part of Us, 17,
12 Power Within, 18,
13 Entrusted, 19,
14 While Holding, 21,
15 Simply Appears, 22,
16 However Fine, 24,
17 Highest Order, 26,
18 When Forgotten, 27,
19 Internal Matters, 28,
20 Chasm, 30,
21 Forms of It, 33,
22 Broken, 34,
23 Trust Cultivated, 36,
24 Excess Baggage, 38,
25 Least Experienced, 40,
26 Restless, 43,
27 Yielding, 44,
28 When So Being, 46,
29 Sacred Vessels, 49,
30 Battles, 50,
31 Weapons, 52,
32 Uncarved Block, 54,
33 Long Enough, 56,
34 Small, 58,
35 Put to Use, 61,
36 Feelings, 62,
37 Way of Being, 65,
38 Losing, 66,
39 By the Joining, 68,
40 Returning, 70,
41 Superior Student, 72,
42 End, 74,
43 Simple Concept, 76,
44 The More, 78,
45 The Greatest, 79,
46 Contentment, 80,
47 To See, 83,
48 Alternatives, 84,
49 True, 85,
50 Dead, 86,
51 Fit, 88,
52 Mother, 90,
53 Sidetracked, 93,
54 Self-Evident, 94,
55 Troubled Teens, 96,
56 Mysterious Sameness, 98,
57 Observances, 100,
58 Profuse Stupidity, 102,
59 Kingdoms, 104,
60 Fish and Demons, 105,
61 Silently Seeking, 107,
62 Words and Gifts, 108,
63 Astounding Effort, 109,
64 A Thousand Miles, 110,
65 Natural Simplicity, 112,
66 Contend, 113,
67 Three Treasures, 114,
68 Awakening, 116,
69 Deft Employment, 117,
70 Understand This, 118,
71 Sick, 120,
72 Without Dwelling, 121,
73 Two Kinds, 122,
74 Hacking, 125,
75 Enjoy, 126,
76 Bend, 129,
77 Bow, 130,
78 Water, 132,
79 Reconcile, 135,
80 Home, 136,
81 Example, 139,
About the Author, 141,
CHAPTER 1
Dispense
The Way to parent according to Tao
Cannot be defined using words,
For it is beyond words?
Terms may be used to speak of it,
But they cannot grasp it?
This Way to lead children according to Tao
Existed long before
There were children to lead?
It existed before heaven and earth?
It is the unlimited way to bring up any child?
It lies beyond our limited understanding?
Therefore,
To see beyond your own boundaries as a parent
In order to reach the heart of your child,
Dispense with concepts,
With techniques,
With your own desires
And expectations?
It is as though this Great Way is hidden —
A mystery to every leader —
Yet aspects of it may be always manifest
In simple daily events?
The mystery
And the manifestations
Arise from the same source?
Words make these two seem different,
But the words only express appearance?
If we must name these,
Let us call them wonder?
From wonder into wonder,
True parenting and leading unfolds?
Regard
Parents,
Finding one innate thing about their children beautiful
Will find other innate things ugly?
When finding some things good,
Will judge other things as deficient?
Yet in every child
Seen according to the Tao,
The hidden and the apparent create each other?
The difficult and the easy complement each other?
The tall and the short illustrate each other?
The highs and the lows define each other?
The varying tones give their own music to a young voice?
And the way they will regard others
Follows the way you regard them?
Hence the Master Parent
Accomplishes without effort,
Teaches everything without saying anything,
Takes their children as they come,
Serves without demanding,
Lays no claim,
Takes no credit?
Because true parents forget themselves
In the lives of their children,
Their children will never lose the highest regard
For them?
Clear and Simple
When you over-esteem and lavish praise
On those children whom you perceive
As having talent or merit,
Your children will be full of rivalry and contention?
When you overvalue possessions and belongings,
Your children will feel the compulsion to covet or steal?
When you constantly stimulate your children's wants,
Your children will be disturbed?
The sound parent leads children by
Emptying their minds,
Opening their hearts,
Filling their stomachs,
Relaxing their ambitions,
Toughening their bones?
In this way the children can have clear thoughts
And simple needs
And in no way will fall victim
To any cunning meddlers?
Practice action-nonaction?
Do not force,
And you will find
That without the use of compulsory means,
Good children will come of themselves?
Something Is There
Can people really parent according to the Tao
Like a well
Used without needing to be filled?
Yes?
Can children really be led in such a way
That they continue to see their own infinite possibilities
As though they are origins in themselves?
Yes?
Can leaders of children
Smooth the sharp edges,
Untie tangles,
Temper the glare,
Settle the dust,
Unite a family?
Yes?
In the deep,
In the vastness,
Something is there,
Holding the secrets of true leading and parenting —
Hidden but always present,
Full of questions and answers alike?
I do not know when the Way was conceived?
It came before God?
Inexhaustible Capacity
Heaven and earth are impartial,
Treating the comings and goings of one thing
As they would another?
Wise mentors are the same?
They regard each child
Not because of their qualities
But regardless of...
