The Tao of Wonder Woman

Chapter Seven, Humility

Love is the answer, and you know that for sure; Love is a flower, you've got to let it grow. John Lennon

Diana’s mission is to change the world through Love and Peace. Yes, she is prepared for battle, but her mission is for wider and deeper. Wonder Woman is known for standing up first to help those in need. The first to stop a battle but the also the first to say - we can find another way. She steps out into the forefront not to be first or lead but because she knows she has the power or ability. What she finds when she stands out in front are people behind, the people she has sworn to protect, always complaining, always criticizing, always doubting her abilities, reasons, and clothing.

“Heaven is eternal, and earth is lasting, the reason heaven and earth are eternal and lasting is because they do not live for themselves.” *

Heaven and earth do not exist to be powerful and great. Their whole purpose is to exist. To simply exist. They are humble enough to let us be who we are – dangerous, destructive, and uncaring. We did not create heaven and earth. They were her long before us and they will be here long after we leave. That is why we are “Straw dogs” to heaven and earth. That is why the Taoist seeks to care for the earth. That is why the Taoist looks to the heavens as a gift. Realizing how great the earth and heavens are will make us see how small we are in comparison. The achievements the earth and heaven make are only through their existence. To us small creatures the earth seems grand and immense. But to the universe the earth is small.  

“Therefore, the wise man humbles himself – and because of his humility, he is worthy of praise. He puts others first, and so becomes great.” *

The Taoist in turn will try to be like heaven and earth. He will try to simply exist. He will find people will need help and the Taoist like the earth will be present. He will help those in need – sometimes above his needs. He will find praise and glory but did not ask for it. He will find complaints and negativity and this he did not want as well. But because he simply exists the Taoist knows this is part of his existence. He just like the earth accepts all people simply because they exist as well. The Taoist have no outcomes to prevent or create. All he seeks is to exist – no better or worse than his fellow man. When the Taoist steps forward it is to help. He is not interested in the glory or the adventure. He does not seek grandiosity or fame. He seeks the peaceful life of existence. The exact same life that heaven and earth have. He seeks to be one with heaven and earth.

Seeking a spiritual life Wonder Woman seeks to become one with the earth. She exists and allows others to exist. Yes, she has a mission but only because she sees the damage that a community based on selfishness, arrogance and hatred can bring to people – the innocent. She has the power to educate and provoke change.

“Where’s the purpose in sharing my views if people are just going to blindly and blithely accept what I have to say? That’s called propaganda, not education.” *

Diana welcomes people to criticize, complain and doubt. She recognizes this is who they are and she accepts them for their existence. She knows that in her discussions and debates that she can evoke change and educate the lowly. Remember Diana does not seek to be the greatest superhero, amazon, woman or human. She only seeks to exist. Her spiritual life is not to create war but to create Peace through love tolerance and acceptance.

“No, I am a truth-seeker and protector of Peace. Even when I want to meet their injustice with the full power of my unbridled wrath, I master my desire. Power is hard to live with…” *

Diana understands the difficulty of a spiritual life. She tries to fit into the world of selfish arrogant people and at the same time protecting and nurturing them. Any religion or spiritual practices teach the follower to be a better person. Studying the practices will make the follower a better person. They want to be accepted and loved and given ways to teach that message to others. To spread that message to the world. This is Diana’s mission. To accept, to love and show the world how to be better. Like a flower she will let her practices bloom. Like a flower she will let Love and Peace bloom. She will protect these gentle week blossoms and let them grow just like Love will grow.

“He is not focused on the outcomes or achievements therefore he always succeeds.” *

*Tao Teh Ching, The Book of the Way, by Lao Tzu, translated by Dwight Goddard (1919), revised and edited by Sam Torode, Ancient Renewal, Middleton Delaware, 2015

* “Media Coverage of, Reflections”, Wonder Woman #200, DC Comics, March 2004

* “Heart of the Amazon”, Wonder Woman #27, DC Comics, September 2017

Chapter Eight, Be Like Water

The highest form of goodness is like water. Water knows how to benefit all things without striving with them. It stays in places loathed by all men. Therefore, it comes near the Tao. *

Water is the one substance that soothe and destroy. It can quench the thirst of thousands. Water can also carve a mountain into a canyon. You can find water anywhere – the darkest cave, the highest peak, or neighboring planets. The spiritual will seek to be like water.

Be formless, shapeless like water. If you put water into a cup it becomes the cup…You put it in the teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow, or it can crash. Be water, my friend. *

Wonder Woman is like water. She can be fluid like water. Her actions ideals and beliefs can be fluid and changing. To some this can be misleading or wrong. But to the open-minded and open-hearted this makes sense. The places she goes, the things she must do and the different people she meets she must be able to bend and mold into any situation. If we go back to her origin, she was created out of wet clay that could be easily mold into any shape. She has never lost that fluidity. Her mission is just as fluid and malleable.

“Peace is a virtue, a state of mind, a disposition for benevolence, confidence and justice. It is not simply the absence of war.” *

A Spiritual person will choose quiet places, maybe those places no one wants to go visit. They will seek to be kindness gentleness and sincerity. These spiritual people will find time to think, dream and meditate to broaden and deepen their minds and hearts. They will also open their minds and hearts. They will seek to go with the flow. Their movements and actions will be like water. When threatened they will seek the best action to relieve the situation – a crashing wave or gentle rain.

Live in a good place. Keep your mind deep. Treat others well. Keep good order. Do the right thing. Work when it’s time.

Diana seeks the same things for herself. She spends hours in communication and meditation and seeks to be the best that she can be to honor and praise her gods. She was given life, so she seeks to live life to its fullest. She was granted with a heroic mission and she seeks its fulfillment. All her dwellings, the Paradise Island, the Themyscira Embassy or the Wonderdome are all comfortable and wonderful places to live. Everything is in its proper place and is in order. All her homes are warm and welcoming. But still, her Amazonian sisters would not want to live like she does. They do not like that her mission takes her away from them.

Each of these places are so quite different but still wonderful places to visit. Paradise Island is just that a paradise. The embassy is a brownstone in the heart of the city with a staff to running every minute detail including food, schedules, and comfort. The Wonderdome is an invisible sentient alien technology that can become an invisible jet or an invisible floating home high above the clouds where Diana chooses to be alone.   

How is Diana so malleable? How are the Taoist so malleable? How do the spiritual become malleable? It is their faith. They believe in something greater than themselves. The faith is not in the gods but in the path, they choose to follow. The faith appears in the actions they take. Their faith becomes like water. “In generosity it is kind; in speech it is sincere; in authority it is order; in action it is gentle; in movement it is rhythm. Because it is always peaceable, it soothes and refreshes.” *

“Faith…It’s not my belief in them (the gods) that’s important. It’s my belief in me.” *

*Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu, translated by John C. H. Wu, Shambhala Publications, Boston & London, 2003

*Bruce Lee, Wisdom for the Way, by Shannon Lee, Black Belt Books, Ohara Publications, Inc. 2009

* “Down to Earth”, Wonder Woman #199, DC Comics, February 2004

*Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu, translated by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, Shambhala Publications, Boston & London, 2007

*Tao Teh Ching, The Book of the Way, by Lao Tzu, translated by Dwight Goddard (1919), revised, and edited by Sam Torode, Ancient Renewal, Middleton Delaware, 2015

* “Taketh Away”, Sensation Comics featuring Wonder Woman #2, DC Comics, November 2014

Chapter Nine, When the Work is Done, Retire

“The time to relax is when you don't have time for it.” Sydney J. Harris

Knowing the time to relax or just stop is a difficult skill to learn. There is a time to work and a time to stop. We humans work, work, and work. It is difficult to decide when not to work. We are always connected – phones, computers – to each other. Therefore, we are always working. Always grinding. Always preparing for something. When we reach one goal we immediately start preparing for the next and the next goals.

“Fill your bowl to the brim and it will spill. Keep sharpening your knife and it will blunt. Chase after money and security and your heart will never unclench. Care about people’s approval and you will be their prisoner. Do your work, then step back. The only path to serenity.”

Purely stated when we do and do, when we fill our lives with much ado, we find there is no time for ourselves. There is no time for Spiritual life. There is no time for a social life. There is no time. There best life is for those that are in Balance, Physically, Spiritually and Emotionally. If we are too empty, we will float away lost. When we are full to the brim, we become sedentary and unchanging.

Wonder Woman is a person that seems always busy and always doing. But she is filling her time al so with time to meditate and find the time for comfort. She has trained to be the best. She has trained Physically Spiritually and Emotionally. Even in times of battle she knows when to stop. In overextending oneself can cause a loss of strength and stamina. When we work and work, we overextend ourselves and become ill Physically Spiritually and Emotionally.

“You were fine while the adrenal rush was driving you Cassandra, but when you stopped at the top of your flight your body was for a moment in freefall…and then instinctive fear overpowered your brain. That is precisely why I told you not to overextend yourself…” *

We can apply these lessons fear and doubt – insecurity as well. The emotions: fear, jealousy, resentment, anger, or pity into our lives we tend to work more and be driven by these emotions. Which will also cause illness and stress. Diana has learned to let these go as well.

“Diana! You have pity in your heart – for Steven Trevor and for yourself! This must stop! We have job to do! Soft emotions cloud intellect! Grieve when we are finished, if you must … Hate, will interfere with task!” *

“As for holding to fullness, far better were it to stop in time!... Here is the Way of Heaven: When you have done your work, retire!” *

*Tao Teh Ching, A New English Version, translated by Stephen Mitchell, Harperenial Modern Classics, Harper CollinsPublishers, 1988

* “Level 1”, Wonder Woman #109, DC Comics, May 1996

* “Wonder Woman’s Last Battle”, The New Wonder Woman #179, DC Comics, December 1968

*Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu, translated by John C. H. Wu, Shambhala Publications, Boston & London, 2003