Taoist Cockroach

by Wesley Gibbs

We are a species that knows the body but sticks to the mind. We can endure unlike any others, because we know our limits, our paths, and we dwell in what others avoid. He who follows the tao lives long, for the tao endures beyond any destruction.  As cockroaches, we know the yang so well that we can climb vertical walls at full speed in the dark of night. Yet we stick to yin, letting our mind ceaselessly wander in the tao. Humans all drown in what they love, seeking only external things, while we cling to the tao, like we cling to to the wall, nourishing ourselves by the internal breath. It is known to us that the breath is the mother, and the spirit is the child. In the modern world of the human, the spirit is but a myth, and the breath is taken for granted. Yet is is the harmony between mother and child, breath and spirit, that leads to a nourishing life. Some frown upon or undesirable features and nocturnal nature, but we flee from the light because we know it is wise to keep to the yin. Productive plants can only grow in good soil, and we unconsciously knew from the first step out of our eggs, that we were essential to others survival. Representing the foundation of this world, we were destined to a life devoted to that which is inside, beneath the surface, the shadows and the cold. Others criticize our minimalist behavior, taking only what we need, day by day, and accumulating no possessions, but as Lao Tzu states in verse 9 of the Tao Te Ching, "Rooms full of treasure, can never be safe."  

 In a human scientific study of our species, 50 cockroaches were placed before three shelters that each held the carrying capacity of 40 cockroaches each. We of course immediately responded to the options by arranging ourselves equally, 25 in each shelter, leaving one of the shelters empty. And when the scientists increased the capacity of the three shelters to fit 50 insects per shelter, we all gathered into one, unconsciously preferring to be together. Because each one of us follow the tao independently and with equal intuition, we end up in the same place. For all paths of wisdom lead to the same truth.  This is the true explanation of our group behavior and grouping tendencies. The scientists were very impressed by this experiment, for they have had no experience of any village or town where everyone devoutly follows the tao to such a degree that there movements flow together as one. They have not reached that level of control that is not that of a ruler, but instead that of independent control over oneself which by means of intuitive virtue happens to be for the benefit for all of the people. Though man has never attained this level of democracy, for his mind is not yet still enough, it has always been an instinctual way of existence to the flocks of birds, schools of fish, and the swarms of insects. The reality that we live and die together lingers in the air, waiting to be discovered by man. 

 It is said by Lao Tzu, that what is ugly can be seen as beautiful by another, and what is beautiful can be seen as ugly. It has been shown, that one mans trash is another's treasure. But Human beings, who have gathered and built so many shapes in their own image, who have relentlessly dominated so many ancient communities that once thrived and graced this earth, have increased even their own delusion. The majority of them have now come to believe the insolent notion that what they habitually perceive is beyond just a limited view of the truth. It is thought by this evolved ape species, that what they experience, is the only real experience. When in reality, the world that can be perceived by man and woman is now nothing but a crumbling taste of the immensity and diversity of patterning that exists within our planet and universe. Take for example the dog family, supposedly "best friend" and most favored by man of all the animal families in our animal kingdom. While man strolls through the neighborhoods, gossiping about this shape or that shape, this piece of iron or that piece of plastic, the pet dog which has been conditioned and bred to behave in a certain human like manner, is still even on its leash perceiving entirely different patterns and realities of our universe, that will never be known to man. For a dog's keen sense of smell allows it to be aware of invisible flows and information that man has never imagined. Only those men who were raised in the wilderness, whom have sharpened their sensory potential to a fine edge, can even glimpse at the patterns that are commonplace and simplistic to to a canine when it comes to olfactory awareness. We cockroaches can climb up walls, by feeling with the hairs on our feet where each tiny drop or rise in elevation might be before we actually step down. Man has now modeled his robot's legs off our strong motor awareness, yet what he creates dos not come close to the efficiency with which we operate. So it is clear that their is much for man left to uncover, and there will always be more to say on any subject of conversation, for we are limited by our own perspectives. The depth of tao is deeper then any can ever know. 

 Another example of man's illusion of control is when it comes to his concept of plants. We cockroach's hiss when angry, and chirp when attracting females, but aside from these vocalizations, we do not speak. One does not have to speak to follow the tao, and most of the time is better off speaking less then talking more. "The sage governs with wordless instruction," as Lao Tzu pointed out to us during his time in China. We communicate the majority of our time not by memorized symbolism, as is known to the human animal, but by chemical trails that tell us where a fellow cockroach has been, and where he or she has found food or shelter. Most insects share and communicate in this invisible fashion of chemical signaling and because of this we are very sensitive to the power and invisible communication and spirits of the plant people. Each day when we walk in the light of the moon,  we pass by plant conversations and thoughts that cannot be heard by man. Knowing the power that plants have, It seems very questionable to me that man dedicates so much of his time and energy maintaining his lawns.  I often see man wasting his precious water on a grass species that serves no other function known to man but as a chair or pastoral image. Why isn't man focusing on a medicinal or edible plant that can actually benefit his family? Who is controlling whom in this situation? Is the man controlling the grass, or the grass controlling the man? How did grass become the most sacred of all the plants in society? I remember living the life of a wandering African bush cockroach, just 190,00 years ago back when man was still roaming the plains of africa, modest and humble in his role among the other creatures. And as my memory serves me, It was indeed the emergence of grass that allowed man to survive and hunt for game, without its help he would not have endured. It seems that it was then that the alliance between man and grass began. I wonder if man is subconsciously returning the favor to the grass people, allowing grass to be his manicured sidekick in his contemporary domination of the earth? These are things that only the wisest know, but the point is that what humans believe to be true very rarely reflects the true reality of this universe. Man can only follow the earth in his life, for he knows too little about reality to be his own teacher. Only the tao can follow itself. Lao Tzu taught us that, "Man follows the earth, earth follows heaven, heaven follows the tao, and the tao follows itself." If the human link in the chain can be made, then the rest of the chain appears much clearer. If this was done even in a small community, then man might glimpse at the potential that he has.