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- CommentAuthorLuke Abbott
- CommentTimeJan 22nd 2006 edited
Each week we address one chapter of the Tao Te Ching. Chapter 25 was originally featured on the 4th week in January, 2006.
Note: The Tao Te Ching can be obscure, especially if you think you're supposed to understand what it's saying! We find it easier and more instructive to simply contemplate how the chapter resonates with your personal experience. Becoming more aware at this fundamental level simplifies life. This approach conforms to the view that true knowing lies within ourselves. Thus, when a passage in the scripture resonates, you've found your inner truth. The same applies for when it evokes a question; questions are the grist for self realization.
Chapter 25
There is a thing confusedly formed,
Born before heaven and earth.
Silent and void
It stands alone and does not change,
Goes round and does not weary.
It is capable of being the mother of the world.
I know not its name
So I style it 'the way'.I give it the makeshift name of 'the great'.
Being great, it is further described as receding,
Receding, it is described as far away,
Being far away, it is described as turning back.The way is great; heaven is great;
earth is great; and the king is also great.
Within the realm there are four things that are great,
and the king counts as one.Man models himself on earth,
Earth on heaven,
Heaven on the way,
And the way on that which is naturally so. -
[Note: I italicize phrases I borrow from the chapter, and link to phrases I borrow from other chapters to help tie chapters together. While making it more tedious to read,
the Tao Te Ching is best pondered in the context of the whole.]What an enticing way to speak to the mystery. Just saying to myself, "It's all a mystery" takes all the 'mystery' out of it by being so clear and direct. The 'label' murders the mystery. The same goes for the word "God", and everything else as well I suppose.
I now recognize this silent and void, stands alone and does not change, as my 'home base' of consciousness I 'see' when my emotions are empty. This 'home' is where I dwell, and from where I venture out to interact in the world. I should say, our 'home base' rather than my, for it is the same in you, in me, in all... always. It is 'the way' to immortality (Taoists are big on immortality you know
).This 'home' has not changed from as far back as I can recall - it is a 'self silence' which is ever the same. It was also a 'boring' place for much of my life, and yet, ironically, it was the place of highest virtue to which I aspired to return.
Simply, I longed to turn back to where I unwittingly was - already and always. How could I return to being the uncarved block, when I couldn't be anything other? Not to know yet to think that one knows will lead to difficulty sure exemplifies my 'understanding' then - and even to this day. Now, though, I more often conform to that which is naturally so. Accepting the fact that 'I' have no 'free will', even that 'I' doesn't exist, makes this much easier .
For me, all this is very easy to understand and very easy to put into practice, and yet it isn't. Why? As long as we look for the 'grass that is greener', it's impossible to see the grass here and now. In short, our 'problem' is perceptual, yet we struggle to solve it by way of action.
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- CommentAuthorLynn Cornish
- CommentTimeJan 24th 2006 edited
"It's all a mystery" takes all the 'mystery' out of it by being so clear and direct. The 'label' murders the mystery.
Saying it's all a mystery assuages my left-minded brain and allows it to take a break.
When I was younger, I was trying to figure it all out. Problem was I didn't know what "it" was. It helped me to allow for "it" to be a mystery I would never figure out because it allowed my analytical mind to go back to sleep.
The mystery is more felt, experienced, than thought of and is alive and well no matter what we "say." If I had had the power to murder the mystery I would have jumped off a bridge by now.
But I know what you mean...
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