Nothing To Say on the Subject

Ta-Wan

We wish to know things, we follow; news, gossip, sport, science, philosophies, and in these subjective pursuits we maintain our minds, as with foods we maintain our bellies - that is that we forever top-up something that we know will become empty again.

What we need to know is the subject. This is a very unique form of knowledge as it is not known by our subjective self but by that which is also the answer to the inquiry. This knowledge will not become empty again, it will fulfill.

That which we seek is infinite and unchanging. We know this to be the case as that which is complete truth cannot alter with the tides, weather or fashions, but it can, does and forever will be rendered differently by each and every person who comes to know it.

Take a friend, enemy and someone you don't know and you'll find that you are not alike. You may have more similarities with the stranger than the friend, or not, but for sure you will not be precisely alike anyone who is here now, has lived or will live. It is right then that while we have one true similarity, that we are all Tao dancing, we will never all sing to the same tune, hold hands and live in peace.

A man knowing Tao can love animals while his neighbor, also a person of Tao, eats flesh. A woman of Tao can have babies while her friend, a person of Tao also, cannot. A child of Tao can be in love and at peace with the world while her friend, also dancing Tao, can scream all day in suffering of illness incurable.

All may know the absolute truth and, even if they do not, they can be nothing but its expression. In this way we as people can, in knowing truth, realize that our explanations will never be 100% shared. Two Taoists can draw blood over differences, a man on a mountain can argue with a man on an island over best diet, an educated person may interpret something quite differently to even their closest peers on the very same subject. Embracing the one truth we share is the same as truly accepting that we will never unify its description and we will never be able, nor should we wish to, have even our closest neighbor accept our version.

Difference is our unity, we will never be anything but that which we seek.

You can check out Ta-Wan's other musings here.