{"id":6773,"date":"2018-04-20T10:58:05","date_gmt":"2018-04-20T01:58:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=6773"},"modified":"2018-04-20T11:03:52","modified_gmt":"2018-04-20T02:03:52","slug":"this-months-message-natural-spontaneity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=6773","title":{"rendered":"This Month\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Oyasama often said:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. It is the path that is being formed by the law of nature.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><em>Anecdotes of Oyasama<\/em>, no. 17, \u201cThe Law of Nature\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>A long time ago, in Warring States China there was an expert cook called Pao Ding. He once said: \u201cIf an unskilled cook butchers a cow, his cleaver will be badly chipped in only a month. This is because he cuts the bones. Even a skilled cook replaces his cleaver once a year. This is because he cuts the sinews. However, I do not allow the blade to cut any bone or sinew. Instead, I run my cleaver along the bones and sinews. So the edge of my cleaver remains as keen as when it was first sharpened.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The world unfolds according to the laws of nature\u2014or, as we might say, according to the divine truth. The secret to the Joyous Life is to live in accord with the divine truth.<\/p>\n<p>Going against this truth to get our way is like chipping away at our own being; we may end up like the unskilled cook\u2019s cleaver. Or to use another analogy, it is like swimming against the river current at the risk of being swept away. We might become exhausted and drown. There is no point in resisting this truth.<\/p>\n<p>Although living in accord with the divine truth may sound like a controlled lifestyle, it is, in fact, the most reliable way to ensure that we can live in freedom.<\/p>\n<p>What we call \u201cthe divine truth\u201d is the intention that God the Parent expresses through natural and social occurrences as well as other things that happen in the world. That intention was conveyed by Oyasama in Her role as the Shrine of God by using human language.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Oyasama often said: &nbsp; \u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. It is the path that is being formed by the law of nature.\u201d Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 17, \u201cThe Law of Nature\u201d &nbsp; A long time ago, in Warring States China there was an expert cook called Pao\u2026<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"continue-reading-link\" href=\"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=6773\"><span>Continue reading<\/span><i class=\"crycon-right-dir\"><\/i><\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,186],"tags":[51],"class_list":["post-6773","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","category-message","tag-this-months-message"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t<!-- All in One SEO 5.0.4 - aioseo.com -->\n\t<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Oyasama often said: \u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. It is the path that is being formed by the law of nature.\u201d Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 17, \u201cThe Law of Nature\u201d A long time ago, in Warring States China there was an expert cook called Pao Ding. He once said: \u201cIf\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"max-image-preview:large\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Editor\"\/>\n\t<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=6773\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"generator\" content=\"All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 5.0.4\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Tenrikyo Online - Latest Tenrikyo news, articles on the teachings, and more!\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"This Month\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity - Tenrikyo Online\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Oyasama often said: \u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. It is the path that is being formed by the law of nature.\u201d Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 17, \u201cThe Law of Nature\u201d A long time ago, in Warring States China there was an expert cook called Pao Ding. He once said: \u201cIf\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/online.tenrikyo.org\/?p=6773\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-04-20T01:58:05+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-04-20T02:03:52+00:00\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"This Month\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity - Tenrikyo Online\" \/>\n\t\t<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Oyasama often said: \u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. It is the path that is being formed by the law of nature.\u201d Anecdotes of Oyasama, no. 17, \u201cThe Law of Nature\u201d A long time ago, in Warring States China there was an expert cook called Pao Ding. He once said: \u201cIf\" \/>\n\t\t<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"aioseo-schema\">\n\t\t\t{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"BlogPosting\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#blogposting\",\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity - Tenrikyo Online\",\"headline\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?author=34#author\"},\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/#organization\"},\"datePublished\":\"2018-04-20T10:58:05+09:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-04-20T11:03:52+09:00\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#webpage\"},\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#webpage\"},\"articleSection\":\"Articles, This Month\\u2019s Message, This Month\\u2019s Message\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#breadcrumblist\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/#listItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=3#listItem\",\"name\":\"Articles\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=3#listItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=3\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=186#listItem\",\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/#listItem\",\"name\":\"Home\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=186#listItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=186\",\"nextItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#listItem\",\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity\"},\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=3#listItem\",\"name\":\"Articles\"}},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#listItem\",\"position\":4,\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity\",\"previousItem\":{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?cat=186#listItem\",\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message\"}}]},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Tenrikyo Online\",\"description\":\"Latest Tenrikyo news, articles on the teachings, and more!\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?author=34#author\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?author=34\",\"name\":\"Editor\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#authorImage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/4f2190ce67bdb1d8728485ed1681f8da976ea414f3b7745eb1dc721ff9a714ba?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"width\":96,\"height\":96,\"caption\":\"Editor\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/online.tenrikyo.org\\\/?p=6773\",\"name\":\"This Month\\u2019s Message: Natural Spontaneity - Tenrikyo Online\",\"description\":\"Oyasama often said: \\u201cThis path cannot be followed by human thinking. 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