Alanz Eyes

Daily Tao - Chapter 1

October 13th, 2005 - Posted by Alan Howard

I've decided to add a 'daily Tao' each day - or whenever I remember, whichever comes first. Main reason is to help me get more into Taoism myself, and the secondary reason is to invite comments from you guys, if you're interested or inspired enough to do so. (No pressure!) Let's begin…

The Way

The Way that can be experienced is not true;
The world that can be constructed is not real.
The Way manifests all that happens and may happen;
The world represents all that exists and may exist.

To experience without abstraction is to sense the world;
To experience with abstraction is to know the world.
These two experiences are indistinguishable;
Their construction differs but their effect is the same.

Beyond the gate of experience flows the Way,
Which is ever greater and more subtle than the world.

This tells me that the Way can never be experienced, and that the seeking of it is an ideal that can never be realised. Unless one steps out on a limb and recognises that if the Way manifests all that happens and may happen, then one is part of the way.

I think it's saying that while you can see the tree, you can't BE the tree. And yet, both you and the tree are the same, because you are part of the energy that constructs you. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust… from energy we come, and to energy we go. The Way itself can never be 'experienced' because the very essence of experience itself is already the Way. Without seeking it out, you already are part of the Way.

Entry Filed under: Pre-2006