Tao

The Tao of Willie
by Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin

(Page 2 of 2)

If you live in opposition to the Tao, your life will unfold in opposition to the natural world, to other people, and to yourself.

The choice is up to you.

If you read this guide distilled from my view of life, love, and laughter, then find yourself wanting more, you will have missed the essence of the Tao, which relies not in wanting more, but in needing less. "To know you have enough," says the Tao, "is to be truly rich."

Like any good philosophy, the Tao is a search for knowledge.

Where do you get this knowledge? When I was a kid, sometimes a feller would be reluctant to say where he'd gotten something - like, say, a "borrowed" horse - so he'd say he got it "from the getting place."

But before we get to the getting place, what about my riddle? What is gooder than God and more evil than the devil, that the rich need and the poor have, and if you eat it you will die?

The answer, of course, is "nothing."

Lessons Learned in Abbott

I can see us sitting 'round the table
When from the family Bible Dad would read.
And I can hear my mother softly singing
Rock of Ages, Rock of Ages, cleft for me.

— Willie Nelson, "Family Bible"

In Abbott, Texas, you had to learn fast or pay the consequences. Luckily that learning curve also included some patient teaching. Early on, I was taught a number of things that have served me well. I was a stubborn little cuss and didn't take to all of them at the time, but over the years I've found less and less reason to question their value.

I'm talking about the basics: the little things that many kids no longer learn, and that a lot of adults have forgotten.

The starting point was to respect your elders.

Now that I'm an elderly fart myself, it's no wonder I like this one. I was taught early on not to think I was too big for my britches or down on my luck to say "yes, sir" and "no, ma'am."

I was also taught to show respect to women, and to give respect to those who are less fortunate than you. When you treat someone with respect, they'll do the same for you.

We may have been poor, but my sister, Bobbie, and I were taught to hold our heads up high.

Whether you're young or old, when you meet someone, you look 'em in the eye and speak up so you can be heard. When you look a person in the eye, you're not trying to hide who you are, plus you get a pretty good idea of who they are.

Remembering people's names is the hard part, but it's worth the effort.

When you remember someone's name, they'll always remember you. If you don't know or don't remember their name, then introduce yourself, remind them of your name, and they'll come right back at you with theirs. When these things become habit - a part of who you are - you're on your way to being a person who will make your parents proud.

My parents aren't around anymore, but I know they're watching.

Bobbie and I were raised by my grandmother and, for just a few years, by my grandfather. Our parents were around from time to time, but it was Mama and Daddy Nelson who had the best place for us to grow up, and who taught us things that have stayed with Sister and me, and served us well.

Times were hard in Abbott and most other places during the Depression. We never had enough money, and Bobbie and I started working at an early age to help the family get by. That hard work included picking cotton at age seven in the rows beside Mama Nelson. Picking cotton is hard and painful work, and the most lasting lesson I learned in the fields was that I didn't want to spend my life picking cotton.

Don't be afraid to ask yourself if something sounds right to you.

Sister Bobbie and I were taught to be obedient kids, and to be good Methodists, but not all of the lessons I learned in church sat easy on my mind. In church I was told that if I so much as smoked a cigarette or tasted alcohol, I'd be damned in hell for all eternity. Even when I was a young boy, it didn't take long for me to start thinking that sounded all wrong.

The preacher had sprinkled holy water on my head to save my soul, but apparently that only lasted so long. So at the end of the church service, when the minister asked who needed to be saved, I'd think about the cedar bark I'd smoked that week or the beer I'd tasted, and I'd traipse back up the aisle to be saved from my sins again. It's a wonder I didn't wear out those floorboards.

Even though I sang in the church choir, every time I walked the aisle to be absolved of my sins, I figured everyone in church could see right through me to the truth of my actions. Later I realized it was me who saw through who I was and who I was pretending to be.

Using your religion and faith as a guide to your actions will do more for other people than if you just talk about it.

Even as a boy, I didn't cotton to the idea that your religion should be flaunted to other people. Your religion is for you, and is best kept close to your heart.

If you want to know about the lasting influence of my childhood in the church, all you have to do is listen to me sing old-time gospel music like "Lily of the Valley" or "I'll Fly Away." Sister Bobbie and I still play songs from the church in Abbott at every concert, and every few years we record a new gospel album. It's part of who we are, some of the best part.

A song in your heart will take you far.

Maybe the most valuable thing I learned from Grandma Nelson was that you can get through hard times if you've got a song in your heart. I'll be telling you more about my grandmother and growing up in small-town Texas, but for now let me just say that seventy years later - despite all my time on the road - I still think of Abbott, Texas, as my home. I still own a house there, just a hundred yards from where I was born. Seventy years ago, that house was owned by the doctor who delivered me.

Though I've traveled far, my heart hasn't strayed all that far from home.

Copyright © 2006 Willie Nelson, Turk Pipkin.

About the Author

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Willie Nelson has sold over 50 million records, recorded 250 albums, written 2,500 songs, appeared in 25 films, and written two New York Times bestsellers: Willie and The Facts of Life and Other Dirty Jokes.

A longtime friend and golfing buddy of Willie's, writer, director and actor Turk Pipkin has appeared in numerous feature films and played a recurring character on The Sopranos. A contributing editor to Texas Monthly, he has also written for television and is the author of eight previous books.