Which is it, 'Tao' or 'tao'?

Carl

topher: I do believe that dogs have some level of the spiritual because I believe they are also spiritual creatures.

So why not cats, or fish, or birds, or ants? I think that all living creatures are tied together by just that, we are all alive. I believe that an intrinsic property of being alive is having emotion, if not simply for survival. Every being can feel hungry, can feel cold, can feel the need to reproduce. Life would not continue to thrive without basic emotion.

Carl

While reading this weeks chapter it occurred to me that there is nary a mention of the Tao. The only time I use the word is when I refer to a point of view - the 'Taoist' point of view. That point of view fundamentally sees [chref=32]names[/chref] and [chref=23]words[/chref] as illusionary. The only teaching that circumvents this problem is [chref=2]the teaching that uses no words[/chref]. Ultimately our use of words really boils down to a way of satisfying a social need to communicate and feel 'connected'. The reality of words lies in how they permit us to feel common ground, even if that ground rests on smoke and mirrors. It is the emotions we feel that count in the end, not the ideas that we think (which are just an extension of our emotions anyway).

But back to the Tao. I've often heard folks say the Tao this,... the Tao that,... and how wonderful the Tao is. This reminds me somewhat of the Christian who proclaims how great 'Jesus' is. Placing something, like the Tao, or someone, like the Christ, on a pedestal is a curious phenomenon. I suppose the process works something like this...

When we place something on the 'greatness' pedestal, some of the 'greatness' reflects back upon us. The biological incentive in this 'two way street' helps pulls the tribe together - a crucial drive for a social animal. Dogs and other social animals use odors, pheromones or visual cues. Our keenest sense appears to be the sixth one, our mind. Thus, nature employs it to pull us together... and of course push us apart (otherwise we would all be just one humongous Taoist family living in one humongous Taoist house ).