Hey there Guthrio


Words are expressions of vibrations, and if the focus is on the words themselves and not the vibrations behind them? Depending on the translation you read -

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao"
and then
"The Tao is the Mother of all Things"


So good old Lao Tzu broke his own quote.


Sorry, you were saying? Or shall we dance?

Greenslade,

...well said! :icon_salut:

......no words............:smile:

Can you clarify why you think Lao Tzu broke his own quote? Surely one can say that all things have their origin in the Tao while recognising that the description is not the reality.

Peace.

Lao Tzu said - depending on the translation you read - "The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao."

Then he said

"The Tao is the mother of all things,"

so isn't that line telling the Tao? I suppose calling it the Tao in the first place takes it away from being the Eternal Tao, but then the need to communicate comes into the equation so we need to call it something. The question is though, what is the reality? That the Tao is the mother of its own expression and understanding?

THIS JUST IN!
 

THIS JUST IN!

....recently overheard in the Hallowed Halls of the Akashic Records:

Lao Tzu, his 3rd eye twinkling in jovial merriment, :icon_cyclops: was overheard to have asked no one in particular,

"Can someone tell me where I can find the Eternal Tao? I seem to have misplaced it somehow, and I've been I-Ching to find it again."

Updates to follow, as they come in...:D

My 2 cents...

I experienced what the Tao was in 1972 after a 5 day fast.
Then, funny, every word of Lao Tzu's book made perfect sense...
I also knew the sound of one hand clapping...what a great few days that was.

You can't 'say it'...as you cannot pronounce The Word, the Holy Name of God-
(ya know the One in Heaven, our Father, whose Name should be hallowed.)
But, we can experience it, feeeeel it...within and without...cuz it permeates everything.
How could a vocal chord and mouth make a sound or a sentence to say what It is...sure, people
imitate It by saying OM....that's, cute.

I love it!! The correct answer, and even delivered with a bit of whimsical sarcasm. My work has been done for me. :smile:
It is good to be home, but I suppose I should probably clean up a bit, I hardly recognize the place.

Asking how one gets to the spiritual world is like standing in the middle of Paris and asking everyone who passes by, "How do I get to France?"

I don't really see the second line contradicting the first. All things arise from the Tao, but the Tao itself is undefined and undefinable with words or thoughts.

Well, to be honest, I am the Tao, or if you prefer, I am my Tao. Everything I know must first arise within me before I can know it, I am the mother of all things that I know, yet what I am is not knowable. I evad all attempts to define me and my existence can only be inferred from that act of knowing all things (well, not all things, but don't tell my wife I admitted that:wink: ).

In my view you can not miss the Spirit World.

As Spirit is the Living Essence behind and operating in ALL we see(Matter)
and in ALL we can not see or comprehend.

Separate the changeable from the unchangeable.
Does a Tree express the Spirit of a Tiger?
What does the energy expression say of a thing?
When you drink water, do you have a Spiritual experience with it or do you just pay it no mind?
To many people want to start in the Woo Woo Spiritual.
Watch things operate and you will see the Spirit behind it.
Humans have a deceptive practice of saying and doing one thing
with a manipulative Spirit behind it, but it is always revealed to those how watch.