Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.This is the third of the biblical commandments. God forbids the taking of his name in vain.
~ King James version ~
Tao is nameless.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
Tao is a word that some have chosen to identify the grand mystery of life. That which we have named is nameless. The mystery doesn't care one iota how we utilize the word or words we use to describe that which cannot be described.
If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
Hi, Trey.
ReplyDeleteI love this fascination we humans have with words and symbols. But then, we're a symbol-based species. We couldn't survive in our current state if we weren't able to use language and math to work with each other in getting things done.
Symbols (God, Tao, Allah, Yahweh, Tinkerbell, etc.) are not the thing. And the "name" of the "divine" is not a name. There is no name big enough. So we use shorthand. The trick is not to fall into the trap of thinking that the shorthand is the thing.
Which, I think, is what you said perfectly well on your own.
Thanks for your post.
H. K.