Daodejing, Verse 1

Daodejing - Other Voices

I thought I would do something different, and take a verse from the Tao Te Ching and give my understanding of it, my perception of it in the life I am living.

Tao Te Ching Verse 1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.

The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.

Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.

Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.

Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding

Tao. This to me means the Universal, Invisible, All That Is. The Tao is where everything comes from, yet, remains unseen, it is indeed Eternal. We have given it the name of Tao and other names, yet, the eternal name is unknown. There is no name for the invisible. However, the un-nameable IS eternally real. Most of us go through life needing to see to believe in something, however, whether you believe or not, it IS real. Once you let go and allow your life to unfold, you will begin to ‘feel’ and ‘know’ the Tao, you will begin to experience it, the mystery. When you are focused only on the want or the desire to fill up your life with things in the physical, material world, you only SEE the physical, material world. The mystery and the physical things all come from the same place. There is nothing that is separate.
~ from Inner Sanctuary, author Leslie Smith, original post date: 10/23/08 ~

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