Ooops we're getting a bit philosophical now. Why not when I was able to visit a Taoist temple and learned about a Chinese deity. I wouldn't have thought of going there if not for trying to follow some kind of travel schedule.
In my previous travel article, I shared with you some interesting religious and historical details of the place. Now let's go back to my story on the trip home to Quezon City. 😄
♦ Back to NCR (Metro Manila) We Go!
While waiting for the van service to arrive I just kept taking pictures of the Oriental structures. What else was I to do in a temple I should not enter? 😂
Around 4 pm on Friday I got a call and the driver said they were finally at the parking area of Ma-Cho Temple. Well finally! Haha and it was a black van this time. So I went down the temple stairs took some last shots of the place and hopped on the van.
At last we were on the way back to NCR! Woohooo! They picked up some passengers along the way and that was it.
Glad I was able to enjoy the scenery and the roadside views from the moving vehicle. Look I even saw a small part of a rainbow and enjoyed the sunset!
If I had left in the evening I wouldn't have seen the wonders of nature in the great outdoors. This is why going on a day trip is also a good experience.
Seeing all those things, I wondered... Perhaps the van arrived at just the right moment. If they had arrived earlier I wouldn't have seen those two things and more!
♦ Oh Let's Get Philosophical For a Bit
You see, most of the time we prefer to control things so we can manage our expectations but the Lord (or perhaps the universe) thinks otherwise. When He has something better that's what can happen even when we don't expect it. The past 3 days were full of delays and guess what, everything turned out fine in the end. Thank you Jesus! 💕
We act and the Lord navigates. I did everything I could in terms of planning and pushing through with my travel plans. In the end, those that are good and possible were what happened.
Does not controlling things sound familiar? Apparently this kind of thinking is similar to the Taoism principle of Wu Wei (無為).
Remember what I wrote about Ma-Cho Temple? Well Ma-Cho (or Mazu) is a deity in Taoism, a Chinese religion or philosophy. Actually she can also be a Buddhism/Confucianism goddess depending on who you're talking to. (Syncretism, I mentioned that in my previous article.) And here we are, suddenly discussing one of the Taoist principles. Well it seems similar to what I said above. We must learn to let things happen on its own.
Wu wei is not easy to grasp but from what I read it seems like it's the art of letting go. It is about surrendering and not trying to control anything at all. It is inaction but never laziness. Interesting right? Maybe I will write something about it next time.
Somehow upon reflecting on everything that's happened lately, I suddenly feel lucky. 😅 Or maybe I am just choosing to see the silver lining in unfavorable situations. 🤔 Either way I am still happy I was able to get out of town and stay safe until I got home.
Do you believe in letting things happen or do you prefer to control things more often? Personally I think there should be a balance. I think that's what I do anyway. Or maybe not. Hahaha, I dunno, life can get crazy when we think too much. 😅
XOXO,
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Lead image and balloon photo is from Unsplash. The rest of the images are all mine.
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I remember one of my yoga practices where the yoga teacher mentions "let go, let be." It is more of the concept of Now where you need to let go of the things that does not serve you and just let be, live in the moment. This is the first thing that came in my mind when you mentioned about Wu Wei, though I really do not know what exactly it is. I look forward for your article on this. :)