There is a saying in Chinese called "Wei Ji". "Wei" means danger or crisis, "Ji" means opportunity. In English crisis is only one word, one meaning, but in Chinese crisis translates to "Wei Ji". Taoism always talks about things having two sides, so when there is danger there must be opportunity present. For over 5000 years, Chinese literature grew deeply from Taoist beliefs: everything is about combining both sides, if there is a yin side there is a yang side. Look at positive and negative always as one, always together.
For example, without an instructor there is no student; if there is no student there is no instructor. Get it? Instructor and student make a whole. Same way the world always comes with two opportunities. Don’t get side trackedwith ‘Wei’ without seeing the ‘Ji’. If there is a crisis there is always an opportunity. So many people, when they see crisis, run for cover, run for help, always hands reaching out to see who can help, right? How can they hide their head in the sand?
So when an issue shows up, there is also an opportunity. What can we do better, to intercept this force of nature that we label as crisis? Intercepting the force gets us to look for more and more opportunity, for a new element, a new product, a new energy, a new force. Engage in life: that is the kind of mentality that Taoism is always teaching. Taoism teaches to present a very positive way of thinking, a very positive way of living. Taoist philosophy is a "way of living".
We talk about yesterday being history, tomorrow a mystery, so what does today mean? Today is a gift! If we treasure today as a gift, what can we do? Today, do not worry about yesterday, as to what damage has been done or how much debt you owe. You owe somebody because of karma, we often say the karma from the last life is because you didn’t do good. Because of karma, in this life I should pay off the old karma. That is a very negative way of thinking. This makes your life become very passive because then your mission in this life is to repay the debt. We pay back the karma hoping tomorrow or the next life will have better karma, better quality of life or better status, hoping my next life I don’t go into debt.
So what about today? Today if you are paying the debt, you are hoping tomorrow is better. So where is the joy and fun today? Do you get it? Today is a gift! Can we make this gift to the best of our ability produce the best result? That is the key issue for all of us.
I want you to think about one thing: If next year (2012) presents a crisis, can we look at it as an opportunity? If we can intercept this force of nature and turn it around, we can change the outcome, the quality of life, emotionally, spiritually, physically transforming our quality of everyday life. Then maybe 2012 will be a greatest year in history.