Embracing Impermanence: A Contemplative Path Through Grief
- kwyattmd6
- Jun 13
- 2 min read
Grief is often described as a storm that arrives unbidden—disorienting, overwhelming, and utterly life-changing. But within Taoist philosophy, that storm has a purpose. It breaks open the illusion of permanence and invites us to live in deeper alignment with the natural cycles of life and death.
The Tao teaches us that all things rise and fall. What is born will die. What blooms will fade. And though this might seem like a truth too painful to bear, it is actually the very doorway to peace.
In The Tao of Death, I explore death not as an interruption to life but as its ultimate teacher—a sacred return to the Source. Inspired by the Tao Te Ching, this book offers 81 poetic verses that reframe death as a movement, a flow, a letting go. It is a call to remember that impermanence is not our enemy—it is our greatest ally in spiritual growth.
“What you hold too tightly will slip away. Let go, and you will find peace.”— The Tao of Death, Verse 42
When we resist impermanence, we resist life itself. Grief then becomes a struggle—a clinging to what once was, a desperate attempt to keep something fixed in a world that is always in motion.
But when we learn to grieve with the Tao, we begin to move with the current rather than against it. We find stillness inside the turbulence. We trust that loss, too, is part of the Way.
A Simple Practice:
Choose one verse from The Tao of Death—perhaps Verse 6, which speaks of the river’s return to the sea. Sit with it in silence. Read it slowly three times. Let it speak to the grief you are holding today.
What if letting go is not the same as forgetting?What if impermanence is the path, not the problem?
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