TaoTeChingMeme -- 1/81
[Note: I'm using the same translation as hana-broom, but I'm also referring to some others when I'm reading>) -R
Chapter 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.
As soon as I translate my sensations and experiences into language, I've moved from the real world into the realm of mental interpretation and imagination. I filter based on what my languages are good at expressing, and based on how good my understanding of my experiences is.
To me Tao is a word that symbolises something outside of the sandbox of language, that I can always only point at but never reproduce sufficiently. Tao is a word that means that the things outside of my sandbox of language, that I make little models of inside the sandbox, are never going to be represented as fully within the sandbox as they really are.
If I can let go of always trying to completely represent stuff outside the sandbox with my models and if I can let go of holding on to the belief that my little model is actually a full (or even sufficient) representation, then I can be open to much more of what is outside the sandbox. Otherwise the little sandcastles take up all of my field of vision... But that letting go is akin to admitting failure, admitting that I don't have the ability to see fully, that I don't have control, and that can be a little scary at times. Scary, but also awesome. The Mystery...
And I myself am something that is outside of the sandbox in my mind. There's a little me made of the sand of languages (English, German, others...) that sort-of-lives in that sandbox, but I and the Sandbox are both of the Tao.
Chapter 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.
As soon as I translate my sensations and experiences into language, I've moved from the real world into the realm of mental interpretation and imagination. I filter based on what my languages are good at expressing, and based on how good my understanding of my experiences is.
To me Tao is a word that symbolises something outside of the sandbox of language, that I can always only point at but never reproduce sufficiently. Tao is a word that means that the things outside of my sandbox of language, that I make little models of inside the sandbox, are never going to be represented as fully within the sandbox as they really are.
If I can let go of always trying to completely represent stuff outside the sandbox with my models and if I can let go of holding on to the belief that my little model is actually a full (or even sufficient) representation, then I can be open to much more of what is outside the sandbox. Otherwise the little sandcastles take up all of my field of vision... But that letting go is akin to admitting failure, admitting that I don't have the ability to see fully, that I don't have control, and that can be a little scary at times. Scary, but also awesome. The Mystery...
And I myself am something that is outside of the sandbox in my mind. There's a little me made of the sand of languages (English, German, others...) that sort-of-lives in that sandbox, but I and the Sandbox are both of the Tao.