The Tao is Tao (1) - By Jos Stabbert
All these thoughts,
Words arranged on paper,
come from the Tao
and return to the Tao,
Yet they do not touch it,
1
Even when the last star
has imploded
and only blackness remains,
the Tao will be Tao:
emptiness in emptiness,
silence in silence
nowhere
yet everywhere:
beyond existence,
yet the essence of life.
The Tao is Tao - Daily Tao
Autistic people often speculate on whether this or that genius might have been autistic. I am certain that Lao Tse has been the object of such speculation. Discussions that i had on Wrong Planet about Taoism seemed more engaging that those i have had on LJ. I have had to wonder whether my autism has influenced my preferences when it came to philosophy and spirituality.
Religion is God centered; but because Humanity is thought to have been created in the image of God, religion is also anthropcentric. We don't much like the idea that we might return to the void, to nothingness -- even if we are told that nothingness is not what we can possibly imagine nothingness to be. We care too much about the fate of our own species and we often express that concern in ways that become inhumane and anti-human.
Taoism alse expresses itself as an aspect of Chinese folk religion, but there is little of this in the Taoist classic writings. Taoism is matter of fact about matters of life and death, let alone prestige, wealth and power. So i try to watch the coming and going of the ten thousand things while trusting that the Tao is the Tao without having the slightest idea about it,
To call the mystery emptiness rather than God reflects a preference for seeing the cosmos "impersonally." As the Christian theologian Paul Tillich said: God is nor less than a person..
Words arranged on paper,
come from the Tao
and return to the Tao,
Yet they do not touch it,
1
Even when the last star
has imploded
and only blackness remains,
the Tao will be Tao:
emptiness in emptiness,
silence in silence
nowhere
yet everywhere:
beyond existence,
yet the essence of life.
The Tao is Tao - Daily Tao
Autistic people often speculate on whether this or that genius might have been autistic. I am certain that Lao Tse has been the object of such speculation. Discussions that i had on Wrong Planet about Taoism seemed more engaging that those i have had on LJ. I have had to wonder whether my autism has influenced my preferences when it came to philosophy and spirituality.
Religion is God centered; but because Humanity is thought to have been created in the image of God, religion is also anthropcentric. We don't much like the idea that we might return to the void, to nothingness -- even if we are told that nothingness is not what we can possibly imagine nothingness to be. We care too much about the fate of our own species and we often express that concern in ways that become inhumane and anti-human.
Taoism alse expresses itself as an aspect of Chinese folk religion, but there is little of this in the Taoist classic writings. Taoism is matter of fact about matters of life and death, let alone prestige, wealth and power. So i try to watch the coming and going of the ten thousand things while trusting that the Tao is the Tao without having the slightest idea about it,
To call the mystery emptiness rather than God reflects a preference for seeing the cosmos "impersonally." As the Christian theologian Paul Tillich said: God is nor less than a person..