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Chapter of the Week: #35 [Archive]
TaoNut says,
You?ve taken a wonder-full ?turning back? step and have peeked over the edge. I can?t resist the opportunity to pontificate:
A mystery only becomes a ?quandary? if you need to resolve it. The marvelous thing about mystery is how it opens the mind to the ?unknowable?. When you accept and embrace the ?unknowable? as just that, you ?know it?. When you love the ?unknowable? as deeply as the ?knowable?, there?s no quandary.
In other word, to know, in the Taoist sense, does not refer to what you can think or speak about, i.e., ?understand? in the usual sense of the word ?know?. Indeed, the deepest knowing experience is that broad pre-thought experience which we (and all creation) share in, but which remains anonymous. Instead, it?s the tangible side of existence that commands our attention. Moreover, we ceaselessly rationalizes the intangible until we?ve cobbled together a tangible dogmatic face for it to which we can relate. The word / concept of God is a good example.
The treasure of the Tao Te Ching is that it leaves so much of the mystery in tack, and instead attempts to draw us deeper into our secret and mysterious space within. [chref=4]Darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there. I know not whose son it is. It images the forefather of God. [/chref]
Of course many of us fear that space and so adopt one of the myriad tangible faces with which human culture has veiled [chref=56]mysterious sameness[/chref] over millennia. Politics, art, literature, music, food and so on exemplify this. The more insecure we are with the intangible, the more fiercely we conform to and support various facets of culture... [chref=12]The five notes make his ears deaf[/chref], and so on.
Does anybody have a theory or hypothisis (or hypothithith as I call it) for this confusing quandry ?
You?ve taken a wonder-full ?turning back? step and have peeked over the edge. I can?t resist the opportunity to pontificate:
A mystery only becomes a ?quandary? if you need to resolve it. The marvelous thing about mystery is how it opens the mind to the ?unknowable?. When you accept and embrace the ?unknowable? as just that, you ?know it?. When you love the ?unknowable? as deeply as the ?knowable?, there?s no quandary.
In other word, to know, in the Taoist sense, does not refer to what you can think or speak about, i.e., ?understand? in the usual sense of the word ?know?. Indeed, the deepest knowing experience is that broad pre-thought experience which we (and all creation) share in, but which remains anonymous. Instead, it?s the tangible side of existence that commands our attention. Moreover, we ceaselessly rationalizes the intangible until we?ve cobbled together a tangible dogmatic face for it to which we can relate. The word / concept of God is a good example.
The treasure of the Tao Te Ching is that it leaves so much of the mystery in tack, and instead attempts to draw us deeper into our secret and mysterious space within. [chref=4]Darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there. I know not whose son it is. It images the forefather of God. [/chref]
Of course many of us fear that space and so adopt one of the myriad tangible faces with which human culture has veiled [chref=56]mysterious sameness[/chref] over millennia. Politics, art, literature, music, food and so on exemplify this. The more insecure we are with the intangible, the more fiercely we conform to and support various facets of culture... [chref=12]The five notes make his ears deaf[/chref], and so on.
Comments
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 35
Have in your hold the great image
And the empire will come to you.
Coming to you and meeting with no harm
It will be safe and sound.
Music and food
Will induce the wayfarer to stop.
The way in its passage through the mouth is without flavour.
It cannot be seen,
It cannot be heard,
Yet it cannot be exhausted by use.
Thus, contemplating the great image is made easier by wondering what lies just before, or after (depending on which direction you're looking) the great image's place on reality's circle. Yes, it's hard to conceive of true nothingness. [chref=14]This is called the shape that has no shape, The image that is without substance.[/chref] Our senses evolved to respond to stimuli, and then to either be pulled in or pushed away. Consider the great image in the context of last weeks chapter: [chref=34]For ever free of desire, it can be called small; yet, as it lays no claim to being master when all things turn to it, it can be called great.[/chref]
The path which our instinctively reactive nature's leads us is constantly exhausted by use under the civilized circumstances we find ourselves. We need relief. Alas, the only 'thing' that offers us relief is that which is without flavour and cannot be exhausted by use.
Having in your hold the great image is not a difficult thing to do, per se. It is just that we are biologically drawn to images that have substance and flavor . Only when we realize that this approach is a dead end (yes, literally in the end), do we become more receptive. [chref=53]The great way is easy, yet people prefer by-paths.[/chref]
How different this is when confronted with the multitude of choices in the modern world, as well as the almost mass illusion that these things will bring us peace or contentment. Whether it's a beer ad promising we'll get the pretty girl or handsome guy, or supermarket choices for tasty food, or whatever, we're bombarded with "desires" to pursue for what today is an "emotional" survival, more than basic "physical" survival.
I find that after 48 years of pursuing whatever solid, concrete "tastes", etc. that have been in my focus, that my true contentment comes at a much subtler level. The tasteless, odorless, etc. from another chapter. Unfortunately, those are difficult to "pursue" during my active day, because of their nature. I find that it's a lot easier to recognize the subtleness that adds stability to my life after the fact. It's difficult to see or appreciate the subtleness when I'm right in the middle of an activity that's tugging on my senses and my focus.
Curiously enough, I'm finding that I have a tendency to not breathe as well, when I'm involved in activities, particularly if they're stressful. I've been taking a mental step back, reminding myself to breathe more fully. This has helped back of the intensity of whatever desire/activity I'm pursuing, so that I can be a little more attuned to the big picture, the subtlety of the way passing through my life with no flavour.
I hope this makes some sense.