Injustice and Tao Wisdom

We are living in a world in which injustice and vengeance are rampant. Many of us are in the midst of this storm of unfairness that causes unhappiness.

A Case in Point

In 1984, Archbishop Valerian Trifa was deported from the United States after being accused a Nazi supporter, who not only had incited attacks on Jews, but also was responsible for executing many Jews in World War II.

After World War II, the Nazi supporter came to the United States as a refugee immigrant. He assumed the name of Valerian Trifa, and was ordained as a priest of the Rumanian church soon after his arrival in the United States. He rose quickly to the rank of bishop and archbishop, and lived in comfort in a 25-room farmhouse on a 200-acre estate maintained by his church.

Later on, a dentist, who was a Nazi survivor, recognized the Archbishop as the Nazi supporter. The case against him was then pursued for more than a decade by survivors of the Nazi years, Jewish organizations, journalists, and the Justice Department of the United States. Their efforts helped focus public attention on Nazi war criminals who were living in the United States.

At first, the Archbishop vehemently denied his former identity, despite some handwriting experts confirming that his handwriting was identical with that in some of the execution orders he had carried out while he was a Nazi supporter. As luck would have it, with the advancement of forensic science, some experts could incredibly still retrieve some DNA from those execution orders. That was his undoing, and his final judgment.

The Archbishop was ultimately ordered to leave the United States in 1982, but spent two years trying to find a country that would give him refuge. Portugal admitted him in 1984, and he finally settled in Estoril, where he died at the age of 72 of a heart attack.

Tao Wisdom

Tao teaches that the Creator is in absolute control of everything that happens in this world, but only according to His own timetable. His “vast net” is encompassing and all-inclusive, and nothing slips through it.

“We try to be good, and do the best we can,

yet sometimes bad things happen to us.

We have no explanation for that.

We just follow the Way,

one step at a time,

accepting the good and the bad,

as essential parts of life.

We quietly respond to every situation

with neither strain nor stress.

We trust the Creator.

His net, vast and loose,

covers the whole universe,

and nothing slips through.

He controls all.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 73)

“When we are separate from our true nature,

we experience no natural goodness,

no compassion and no loving-kindness.

Our goodness then becomes contrived,

demanding fairness and justice,

focusing on appearance and superficiality.”

(Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 38)

           

The bottom line, do not waste your internal energy by striving to seek answers to those unanswered questions about unfairness, inequality, or injustice. Just accept and embrace whatever happens in your life, and the Creator will take care of everything. Just leave it to Him, and nothing slips through His vast net  of justice.

Stephen Lau

Copyright© by Stephen Lau