MIRACULOUS LIFE

The Chinese practice known as ancestor worship can be mistaken as a superstitious appeasement of ancestral spirits. In reality, it is not at all worship in the Western sense. Rather, its purpose is for people to express appreciation for those who made it possible for them to be alive.

Trace your genealogy as far back as you can, and then consider the fact that in order for you to be exactly as you are, all of you ancestors must have been as they were. If any one of them had made a different choice in the past - perhaps marrying a different person or deciding not to have children - you would either be very different or not exist at all.

In a very real sense, you are extremely lucky to be alive. Events could easily have unfolded in some other way at every junction in the history of your family. You have beaten the impossible odds to be who you are in the here and now. It is like winning the lottery a hundred times in a row. You are a living, breathing miracle in human form, but we don’t think twice about our miraculous nature because it is too commonplace.

The Tao Today

Honoring our ancestors brings us out of this mind-set taking the miracle of life for granted. By acknowledging the lives and struggles of those who came before, wee see ourselves as the latest addition in a very long line of incredible people. It is a realization that fills us with gratitude, and this is the true essence of the practice known as ancestor worship.

The Tao of Joy Every Day

~ Derek Lin