Thou hast made the earth to tremble; thou hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh.Sounds like the writer is attributing climatic events like earthquakes and tsunamis to a willful God.
~ King James version ~
Tao doesn't will things to happen; Tao is the happening itself.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~
Tao isn't a being, an entity that reacts to human action and thought. Tao doesn't bring rain because we have walked along the Way or earthquakes because we refuse to honor and worship Tao.
Rather than think of Tao as a thing, think of Tao as the process that makes all things possible. A river that flows forever. The blood of the perpetual body of life.
If you're interested in reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.
But what if you say:
ReplyDelete"TAO hast made the earth to tremble; TAO hast broken it: heal the breaches thereof; for it shaketh."
What's the difference?
(Actually, TAO is not the happening, but the principle.)
From my standpoint, Tao doesn't make the earth to tremble; the trembling earth IS Tao.
ReplyDeleteI would say the trembling is a manifestation of Tao. You said yourself, it's a process, which is not the same as the result.
ReplyDeleteI do however agree with your point that things do not happen because we have or have not "appeased" the principle. Well, maybe not...the changes are the natural (or interfered with) consequences of ying and yang, as described by the bagua, the hexagrams.