An Absorbing Errand

December 2, 2012 by Keo Cavalcanti

Taoism has been my practice for almost 25 years, almost half of my life. The centerpiece of this practice is a little book, the

Tao Te Ching

, written some 2, 500 years ago (for those interested in a good translation, I recommend the edition translated by Gia-Fu Feng and Jane English, published by Vintage Books). There are other Taoist writings that are part of the Chinese collection of philosophical classics, but the Tao Te Ching is central.

NOTE

: The link will take you to an online version of the translation.

In the novel Roderick Hudson writer Henry James proposes an interesting definition of happiness: “True happiness ¦ consists in getting out of one’s self. But the point is not only to get out – you must stay out. And to stay out you must have some absorbing errand (I got this quote and the title for the sermon from Janna Malamud’s book, An Absorbing Errand, Counterpoint Books, 2012).

The thought of finding happiness through a distraction is too delicious to ignore. So, this Sunday morning I’m inviting you to consider its possibilities. I am hoping that you will be intrigued with the notion of an absorbing errand too. In his novel Henry James seems to be saying that perhaps the only way we can be saved from our intense self-absorption, from our relentless preoccupation with ourselves, is to find a distraction; a distraction that shifts our focus of attention ¦

But James is also saying something else. He is saying that this is no simple, small errand. This errand must be absorbing. It must be entrancing, captivating. It must be something that makes us forget all other pressing matters. It must be something that keeps us occupied, immersed and engrossed in both its practice and logic.

An Absorbing Errand in pdf format