Life Defined -- Point 4

4. All these truths and answers (2, 3) are, so to say, tailored to our faculties and requirements. They are in principle accessible and intelligible to us, so that we may reasonably hope and expect to discover them, or have them reveal themselves to us.

A Taoist could agree with some aspects of this point. As we are part of Tao and Tao is part of us, the flow of life runs through us. It is when we silence the ego that this information is accessible. Because this information is part of us already, it's not really a matter of discovering it; it's more a matter of listening to what is "speaking" to us all along.

Where a Taoist might disagree concerns the idea that the information of life is tailored to human beings. Such a formulation smacks of pomposity and arrogance! Why would the flow of life be tailored to one manifestation of the One over any other?

Further, Taoism posits that all such information is beyond definition. It is something that must be sensed and experienced, not calculated in mathematical formulations or defined in the language of words and thought.

This distinction helps to illustrate the difference between prayer and meditation. The former is a conversation based on language and thought processes. The latter involves no conversation whatsoever; it is more akin to stepping into a void and allowing the energy of life to permeate our being.

This post is part of a "miniseries". For an introduction, go here.