Since I was young there was something that told me that the biggest achievement in life is knowing how to live it well. To make it a personal masterpiece or piece of art. And for being able to do so, the inner intelligence of how to act with the present moment and the world around us is more important, than collected memory, in form of intellectual and academic knowledge. One can have collected a huge amount of academic knowledge, but still struggle with the every day life and one´s relationships. Especially also with the most important relationship of all, the one with oneself. Since it is the longest relationship of our life and the one we cannot escape from. But some people try that and hit therefore again and again different kinds of walls in life.
On one side there are rules to life that enable us to make or craft a masterpiece out of it.
On the other hand, there is something intangible to it. Something that requires flexibility and intuitive response, which, if bringing about the personal desired results, makes it more seem like an art. For that we need the inner intelligence, that has less to do with academic knowledge, though some of it can help.
The inner intelligence is needed when we are dealing with different situations in life and business. Which always enfold themselves in the present moment. The more we are able to face this moment, the better we can deal with it. This is the Zen approach to existence. Being so connected and in alignment to life, the present moment, that you intuitively do the right thing, at the right moment, in the right way.
This is what Daoists consider to be with the Dao. I refrain from explaining the famous unexplainable here. Though, I leave a little hint: You can find it in the seemingly ordinary present moment.
And the word “present” is interestingly a synonym for the word “gift”.
