1st Verse: Living The Mystery

The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.

The Tao is both named and nameless.
As nameless it is the origin of all things;

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;
ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.
And the mystery itself is the doorway
to all understanding.





Do The Tao Now:

At some point today, notice an instance of annoyance or irritation you have with another person or situation. Decide to do the Tao (or practice the way) in that moment by turning inward with curiosity about where you are on the continuum between desire and allowing. Permit the paradox of wanting the irritant to vanish and allowing it to be what it is. Look inward for it in your thoughts and allow yourself to feel it wherever it is and however it moves in your body.

Turn all of your attention to becoming open-minded, allowing permissiveness to befriend the mystery within yourself. Notice how the feeling manifests itself: perhaps doing "loop-de-loops" in your stomach, giving a rigidness to your skeleton, making your heart pound, or tightening your throat. Wherever it is, allow it as an enigmatic messenger within you, and give it nonjudgemental attention. notice the desire for the feeling to disappear, and allow it to be monitored compassionately by you. Accept whatever comes. Encounter the mystery within without labeling, explaining, or defending. It's a subtle distinction at first, which you must take personal responsibility for identifying. You alone can prepare the ground of your being for the experience of living the mystery.

Here is my interpretation of this verse. It is neither right nor wrong ... simply the meaning it holds for me.

Naming something or attempting to define it limits it. We are programmed to attach a label to everything so as to categorize and bring some sense of order and understanding, but once something has been "defined" we lose the ability to see it as anything other than how we have defined it. We do this daily with ourselves as well as others.

If we release ourselves from our desires we can once again see. Absent of our own selfish motives we gain a clearer view of our world.

All arises from darkness and shall return there, just as sound is spawned from silence and returns to that source.

What is your take on this verse? Remember there is no right or wrong.

Also, I encourage you to listen to or read Wayne Dyer's interpretation called "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life."

Until Next Time,

Live The Mystery.

We are programmed to name, to hold, to attach to things... and as this can be a tremendous obstacle to knowing the undefinible, unlimited God it may also be the way in which God has created us TO attach to what we love. I honor the wisdom of the Tao, and am a long time student of zen buddhism.. I love the freeing nature of the texts, freedom from self, from distracting and limiting attachment to beliefs and material life. I wonder at times in that studenthood, however, where the attachment to love relationships comes in.

In my experience of this life, and of the spiritual life, and of God the creator, love relationships of attachment are essential, including the attachment of God.. to us. ?For God so loved the world..." that God gave himself, sacrificed all that is most precious... as we do for those we love, in a sacrificial and selfless way.. it is not because we are UNattached, it is because we are ATTached, to love. Thank God, seriously, that God is attached, and lovng and forgving for all that we in our humanty and attachment to self-centered and hurtful things, are. In the Tao, where is the attachment known as Love.. is it an illusion and that is all, and essentially there is nothing but dark nothingness?

These are the kinds of questions that my spiritual study has left me with, as I live my lfe. The questions seek an answer, but it cannot be put into words it seems.

Thanks for thoughts on these things, FitPro. Good spiritual searching and refining. Of course, all things do return to the source. but is the source Light? Or Dark, speaks to a foundational difference in spiritual perspectives and traditions.... again, the question is just out there, to be aware of.

Blessings,
Trish

I will live the great mystery! I just love that! I do believe that "naming" or putting a label on ourselves or others or situations diminishes their power and beauty. I have noticed the moment I make myself remove that definition my heart opens up to more as do my eyes. It is a natural human thing we do- that our inner selves can learn to undo I think-for our own greater joy. I believe we are to love with all our being. Without regard to things, position, etc...I believe the goal is for our love to refine into a purer form that supercedes even the "you belong with me" that we find here to the knowing that we all love and we all belong regardless. Yes, that is eutopia, heaven, but that is what we are setting our hearts on right? The Tao is "the great way" Jesus said "I am The Way". The teaching is to love, bless, care for, honor, teach equally regardless of who you are or what you've done. No exceptions. This community is an excellent place to practice and receive this kind of love! Here's to living the great mystery without labels!

Hi Trish,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this verse. I agree with you that certain attachments exist for a reason. I am of the Christian faith and do hold a strong belief in Christ. That said, I believe it easy to perhaps place too much emphasis on what we might believe to be the direction the Tao is guiding. My thought is that it is fine to have attachments so long as we know that we do not and cannot possess or claim ownership of anything. Another verse later on states that "all that is composed will decompose, all that is ours will leave and become someone Else's. To me this speaks only of the world we live in and not our spiritual realm or the afterlife.

Again, everything is fluid, paradoxical. The more we try to pin it down and capture it the more it eludes us.

Thank you again. No right and wrong answers, simply personal shifts closer to a spiritual truth.

Warrior1 (I'm sure I'll discover your given name soon) lol,

I try to imagine sometimes what I might have become had I been placed on this earth alone in the wilderness without knowledge of the things I was raised to believe. I guess only then would one truly be in touch with themselves. All things for a reason however.

I have only recently discovered the Tao and there is much I don't understand. I certainly do not use it as a substitute for God's Holy Word, but I do believe it compliments much of what the Bible teaches. Again, labeling it limits it. Attempting to define it closes it off. It may mean something entirely different to one person than to another and that is precisely the point I suppose.

Thank you for your comments and interpretation . I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts.

OMG! so sorry! I'm Shelly . I think this will be an awesome way to help each other understand things maybe each of us see differently or some I won't be able to figure out at ALL. LOL. I believe it mirrors a great deal of what the bible teaches-proof again I think, that Truth will stand for itself. Sometimes the wording of the Tao makes it hard for me to get to the meaning, once I think I do it usually mirrors a truth we find mirrored over and again. When I went outside this morning-everything was chrystallized into this beautiful fairyland. So amazing. And I was grateful for the great mystery! Anyway-sorry again-I wasn't trying to be a secret agent! lol

Hi! This verse is really beautiful and plenty of wisdom. I read the Tao Te Ching once, I didn´t study it but there are many verses where I found the simple Truth and it is agree with my Christian beliefs: God is greater of all we can think, imagine, naming... (St. John of Cross teaches were that if you can imagine it.. so it isn´t God) Don´t remember what is the verse where says that "the Tao, that has no name, will reflect in your eyes": this is absolutely true of people who love and is connected with God. Don´t mind the name. Your civilization is logo-centric. We have to learn to experience the mistery beyond the words: the greatest moments of our lives will be/were spechless.
ps. Sorry for my english, I speak spanish
ps2: I used to be reader of Dyer´s books too!

Thank you for you input Caty. Your English is just fine. I understood your points perfectly.

I have Wayne Dyer's companion book that goes with this and will be reading that along as well. I do not have it here with me so may comment again in each verse after I read his interpretation with new thoughts.

My Thoughts

The seen and unseen are the manifestations of the Tao. We are all connected to the Tao, God, Source or whatever Name you want to give it. The Name is just a Name. The Tao is the same for everyone. We are the manifestations, we have chosen to desire therefore we see the manifestations, as soon as we are desireless we will no longer see the manifestations but will be within the Mystery again.

As soon as we attempt to Name the Nameless it has escaped us and we then are not aware of the Nameless anymore, impossible, we have a path to the Nameless by way of our soul and as Dyer, or was it Chopra, would state the space between the thoughts, I believe, can lead us to the Nameless - The Mystery.

I believe that all goes back to the Light, not darkness.

Thanks Thia. I appreciate reading all of the individual interpretations. Keep following along and posting your remarks.

Regards

I hope Im not messing up threads, I just have been so moved by the verses I have read I had to come back to one...and Im going to read them all. I started on 39, so I have some catching up to do. I find a sort of inner peace in these words and that is something I long for...so I dont know that I interpret yet, just hold the knowledge and use it when the correct time arises.

At the moment we are all born we are given a name which we go by through out our time in this world. We learn many things as we are going up, but unfortunately sometimes we tend to hold to things which we deep in our consciousness know its wrong to hold on to but we still do it. Since we tend to hold on wrong things we tend to become upset or depressed.
This morning, as I was studying for an exam in a subject I am not doing that well in school, and I had become very depressed and felt miserable, nothing anyone said made me feel better. I was having a lot of negative feelings and thoughts. I had talked to Micheal (fitpro) yesterday and he suggested that I start doing meditation. Today was my first time and honestly I meditated for 20 min and its honestly brings happiness because u feel relaxed and energetic also the body and mind is in peace. After I had come out of the deep meditation, I began studying for my exam and honestly I have to say, I never studied this hard before for this subject and I felt i got rid of all the negative feelings I was having

Awesome Matt.

Quote:

Originally Posted by MissC I have Wayne Dyer's companion book that goes with this and will be reading that along as well. I do not have it here with me so may comment again in each verse after I read his interpretation with new thoughts. My Thoughts The seen and unseen are the manifestations of the Tao. We are all connected to the Tao, God, Source or whatever Name you want to give it. The Name is just a Name. The Tao is the same for everyone. We are the manifestations, we have chosen to desire therefore we see the manifestations, as soon as we are desireless we will no longer see the manifestations but will be within the Mystery again. As soon as we attempt to Name the Nameless it has escaped us and we then are not aware of the Nameless anymore, impossible, we have a path to the Nameless by way of our soul and as Dyer, or was it Chopra, would state the space between the thoughts, I believe, can lead us to the Nameless - The Mystery. I believe that all goes back to the Light, not darkness.

I echo these thoughts. I had to read this again. Thank you, Thia. I think we humans so often get lost in the LABELS.. the NAMES. How do I know that "tree" is a "tree?" Can I strip away the labels and observe life as it is before me? An infant sees the tree, but doesn't NAME it "tree"..... does that make it any less of a "tree?" Or does it only become a "tree" if we NAME it "tree?"

Haha.. my attempt at explaining what goes on in this mind...... again, you can't explain the unexplainable.

"once something has been "defined" we lose the ability to see it as anything other than how we have defined it."

That's a great statement!

Mikhail

I heard a Zen master describe this verse by saying "Don't eat the menu."