[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.

This chapter begs us to consider the definition of virtue. Virtue (in the West especially?) carries a homo sapiens' centric moral connotation. Here we see that the myriad creatures all revere the way and honor virtue. Virtue, in the Taoist sense, is deeply profound and far-reaching - it is mysterious. Victor Mair's and D.C. Lao's Ma-wang-tui translations interpret it as mysterious integrity and dark virtue, respectively. Note: Dark correlates to Passive. So, how about dark integrity?

By seeing all things (the myriad creatures both the organic and the inorganic) as 'employing' dark integrity, we can bypass the arbitrariness and hypocrisy latent in morality. Now, I'm not espousing some 'anti morality' hedonism. To the contrary, when we have integrity, morality comes naturally. Without integrity, there can be no morality. All you end up with, especially in 'advanced' civilization, is a good deal of hypocrisy.

Why? Civilization is a poor substitute for the way, i.e., it is lousy at being the steward yet exercising no authority. Why? Because civilization reflects humanity, its fears, needs and various degrees of maturity (or lack there of). Yet, it is civilization which does much of the rearing, nursing, feeding and sheltering. We are no longer being fed by the mother - nature - as much. In fact, we do all we can to by-pass her.

Nevertheless, religious words (from God to Tao) arise and reflect our innate awareness of and reverence for mysterious integrity. This reverence, and the words which follow, happen not because this is decreed by an authority but because it is natural for them to be treated so. Much of our difficulty arises from the naming, i.e., only when it is cut are there names. The severing that naming entails disconnects us from that which we naturally revere and honor. The value of the Tao Te Ching lies in pointing out how the greatest cutting does not sever, i.e., when our discernment penetrates the four quarters, [and] we capable of not knowing anything.

Our mind got us into 'this mess', and appears to be the only thing that can get us out. How? Only by being as hesitant [and] tentative about distinctions that seem at first so clear cut and real. Watch for those moments when you feel your mind is that of a fool - how blank! Savor and encourage them as moments of 'original mind'. As we cease validating the veracity of our discernment (and the endless distinctions we make) it becomes easier to return to the One.

'The One'? Well, its essence is quite genuine, and within it is something that can be tested when we begin that journey 'back'. Like Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you". Of course, he's not referring to "treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal"! Personally, I find it to be as simple as Jesus said. I'm getting out of life what I desire. If I'm unhappy with the result, all I need do is turn back to what I truly desire.

Opps... Too many words. So much for knowing when to stop! ops: