The Tao is said to be undefinable, but still, the Tao is often defined as “the source of everything” and as the “ultimate principle”. The source of everything sounds pretty far away if we try to wrap our heads around it, so how do we recognize this source?
Most often, it is the best reference that we have ourselves.
So, let’s take a moment to look within ourselves to see if we can recognize the unrecognizable Tao in some way as the most natural state within ourselves.
Many of us have examined ourselves and discovered that we have two sides. Like we have two halves. One universal half never changes, and a very personal half that changes every moment.
We see these two halves in many myths. Usually, they are in a fight, or at least one is jealous of the other and a bit stabby. This stabby one typically gets knocked on the head to knock out the annoying brain… Odin and Loki, Castor and Pollux myth and many others tell such stories of our divine soul and its mental burden.
Our soul is the divine hero in many myths and legends that fights against its nemeses from the material realm. And this is us. We carry this unnamable divine essence within us, and we create a crack in our being through our deep longing for it. When we have this crack, we discover the difference between “the inner silence” and “the noise of the ego”. We see the difference between our “joyful rest and peace” and our “agitated” state. These are like two very different states… One of noise and one of tranquil silence.
When we connect with the silence of the heart rather than to the noisy mind, we find a harmonious law that expresses itself as life through the silence. This Law, this Tao, brings harmony to all things, including the agitations in our lives when we trust them to it.
The book “Tao The Ching” by “Lao Zu” expresses this universal law of Tao.
These verses touch simply a deep universal truth.
The poem puts us in the right mindset from the start by telling us in plain and simple words how we can resolve all the troubles and conflicts of our lives.
The Tao Te Ching reminds us continuously to stay in the flow by a “not being” and by a “letting be”, so that we can be receptacles of the Tao essence.
But let’s look a little more within ourselves to find this Tao…
Did you ever notice that omnipresent essence within you? That one that you can’t remember but that you neither can’t forget? It is like a song we remember while we can’t recall the words or the melody. We need to re-hear it to remember it…
And what we remember is the omnipresent Tao, which can only manifest itself in us when we become still. And it is in this inner silence that we experience a universal knowledge that we hardly can explain.
Tao Te Ching – Verse 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 mystical gateway to all understanding.
And verse six
The valley spirit never dies;
It is the woman, the primal mother.
Her gateway is the root of heaven and Earth.
It is like a veil barely seen.
Use it; it will never fail.
Many creation stories start similarly. The first origin, the unnamable God, the Father, expressed itself, and then the uncreated becomes created. And creation is symbolized in Taoism by the “mother” or the “mystical gate”. So the mother, or this gate, is in a constant state of manifestation of life. The mother continually gives birth to life through the Holy Spirit, who in the Tao Te Ching is called: “the valley spirit”.
This Spirit is the same as the Gnostic Logos, the Word, the seven vowels or inaudible harmony that continually manifests life through the ever-flowing Gnostic Pleroma. This is the Kingdom of Heaven that continuously overflows within our hearts and outside of our hearts. This is the unnamable flow of Tao that is in everything, everywhere.
And just like every true spiritual tradition asks us to unite with this flow or word, the Taosists do the same by saying that we must follow the “path of Tao”, which is the inner path of life that brings both inner and outer life to a natural flow…
On this path, we learn to balance the subtle harmonies of heaven so that we will manifest those more and more through our lives. And we will often fall, but if we long for this peace, we will get back up and back in the race for that internal gold no matter how frequently we stumble. Our longing for love always takes us back on track to the invisible source that gives us eternal peace.
Love is a harmony that always keeps to the middle, and this middle way brings peace. It is in this balance of peace that the Taoistic path is found. Inner balance is essential because we quickly go mentally, emotionally, and physically out of balance when we carry too much weight. This is why the middle way of the Tao instructs us to surrender our burdens to that flow. To trust to let them to the flow of time that takes it away behind us.
Only when we leave things behind like this will a silent space be created in which the Tao can manifest itself in us.
To put this more concretely. We should eliminate all bad habits that hide the Tao from us so that we will be met with an overflowing wealth that brings balance to everything.
In chapter 4 of the Tao Teh Ching, it is written:
The Tao is an empty vessel; it is used but never filled.
Oh, unfathomable source of ten thousand things!
Blunt the sharpness,
Untangle the knot,
Soften the glare,
Merge with dust.
Oh, hidden deep but ever present!
I do not know from whence it comes.
It is the forefather of the gods.
Tao is the unknown and invisible dimension that resonates as the highest harmony in our visible dimension. This harmony, sometimes called the “voice of silence,” calls out to us so powerfully that it is like a light attracting moths. And as we follow our inner pilgrimage towards this light, we will discover that the Tao is a spiritual realm that never changes. Our inner path becomes a Taoist alchemical process where we slowly transform into the perfected golden flower that radiates in her spiritual domain.
During this alchemical process, We stop looking with the eyes of the senses so that we can see for real; We stop listening with the ears of the senses so that we can hear for real; we stop doing so that the Tao can touch us in “not doing” and bring us to the real. And when we try to be honest like this and stop creating more ripples on the waters of life, we are recreated by creation itself and act accordingly…
Chapter 14 of the Tao Teh Ching states:
Look, it cannot be seen – it is beyond form.
Listen, it cannot be heard – it is beyond sound.
Grasp, it cannot be held – it is intangible.
These three are indefinable;
Therefore, they are joined as one.
From above, it is not bright;
From below, it is not dark:
It’s an unbroken thread beyond description.
It returns to nothingness.
The form of the formless,
The image of the imageless,
It is called indefinable and beyond imagination.
Stand before it, and there is no beginning.
Follow it, and there is no end.
Stay with the ancient Tao,
Move with the present.
Knowing the ancient beginning is the essence of Tao.
When we listen to the Tao, we listen to the silent voice from within without judgment. We are silent witnesses who don’t create concepts and ideas when looking for the Tao. We instead let be.
And to be receptive to the Tao means to let things be and to be open to the present moment. This letting be is not a forced detachment but a stepping back, or a detachment from the things we are just beginning to cling to, by non-doing, because it is better not to hold on to things. After all, then there is nothing to let go of either.
When we step back, in the state of surrender called “wu wei”, we will be greeted by the three treasures often mentioned in Taoism. These are compassion, simplicity and modesty.
We receive a compassionate heart, a simple mind and modest actions.
And as a self-test, we should perhaps ask ourselves:
Is our heart compassionate?
Is our head simple?
Are our actions modest?
If we were, we would witness and understand the Tao in everything!
But we all lack at least one of these three: compassion, simplicity or modesty.
In chapter 56 it says:
Those who know do not talk.
Those who talk do not know.
Keep your mouth closed.
Guard your senses.
Temper your sharpness.
Simplify your problems.
Mask your brightness.
Be at one with the dust of the Earth.
This is primal union.
He who has achieved this state
Is unconcerned with friends and enemies,
With good and harm, with honor and disgrace.
This, therefore, is the highest state of man.
This is how we learn to be quiet, let go, accept, surrender, and get to “the other side of good and bad”. We have to reach a point where we say, “Enough is enough”, and there we must go from trying to do everything about some situation to an active “letting be” or “not doing”. We have to come to that surrendered Wu Wei spot that brings peace.
In Tao Teh Ching chapter 63 it says:
Practice non-action.
Work without doing.
Taste tasteless.
Magnify the small, increase the few.
Reward bitterness with care.
See simplicity in the complicated.
Achieve greatness in little things.
In the universe, the difficult things are done as if they are easy.
In the universe, great acts are made up of small deeds.
The sage does not attempt anything very big,
And thus achieved greatness.
Easy promises make for little trust.
Taking things lightly results in great difficulty.
Because the sage always confronts difficulties,
He never experiences them.
Tao moderates.
Following the Tao will prevent us from crossing boundaries so that we don’t lose our balance. It shows us the weeds so that we can pull them out by their roots, bringing peace to our hearts. The Tao always brings a peaceful balance within us when we yield to it by not doing, by inwardly accepting our fate. If we wish to maintain this peace, we must dissolve all our reactions into the cauldron of our inner silence. And when we let our reactions be, a merciful peace will follow. So we must stop resisting life and surrender to its current as it flows in the moment.
We must live in the Spirit of Tao; we must bow our heads to become modest and utterly devoid of judgment. Only without personal prejudices can we see things in the truthful light of their present reality, while we leave the judgements up to the laws of Tao.
Tao Teh Ching 22 says:
Yield and overcome;
Bend and be straight;
Empty and be full;
Wear out and be new;
Have little and gain;
Have much and be confused.
Therefore, the wise embraces the one
And set an example to all.
Not putting on a display,
They shine forth.
Not justifying themselves,
They are distinguished.
Not boasting,
They receive recognition.
Not bragging,
They never falter.
They do not quarrel,
So no one quarrels with them.
Therefore the ancients say, “Yield and overcome.”
Is that an empty saying?
Be whole,
And all things will come to you.
The Spirit of Tao finds us when we yield and find a little crack of inner silence within. In this silence, the divine in us meets with the Divine in everything else, and the divine essence, “the Taoist Golden Flower within us”, comes to bloom. And for the Secret Golden Flower to bloom, we must give it space. We must become so strengthened by silence that we can even stand in the fiercest battle in silence. And we stand there as the caretaker, aware of the wounds that must be treated on all sides.
If we know how to yield and find some silence, we must do hard work to take care of this delicate silence within us.
We have to protect it and look after it by listening to it, paying attention to it and following its instructions regarding what changes we need to make to stand firmly and wisely on the path of Tao.
Answers always arise everywhere when we try to see life from the spacious stillness that blossoms in the moment.
If we don’t try, then we find answers in our own lives.
If we don’t try, we find answers in the sun, moon and stars.
If we don’t try, then we find answers by a tree by a lake,
But we also find our inner answers by not trying when we stand or walk in a busy shopping mall.
In such stillness, we are protected; in it, we also find more written in a single flower than thousands of books can describe.
So why don’t we try to exchange the noisy moment for the stillness of the present moment that is now? Only by “not getting too much caught by life” can we find unlimited freedom in Tao while we live our wave of life. So live wisely and “let be”, so you will be left with a fulfilled silence. And when this unnamable silence multiplies in you, then the balance of Tao will indeed find you.
If we live in this limitless now, together with the Spirit of Tao, then the spirit of Tao will heal us and lead us via our inner paths back to our harmonious original state, which is a state of eternal peace. It is the state of the Taoisitic uncarved block…´
And on our path, the true spirit of the valley is with us, helping us wherever we give it space. The spirit of invisible harmony leads us back to our origin. We find our way when we follow what is right by the Tao. If we follow its flow, we will see our task in the fullness of love, while we serve the world with a fire of peace, no matter who we are or where we are…
And if we are united and ignited in the same fullness of love, our flames create an intense fire that will call everyone towards their morning of awakening. And whether we will come to that awakening or not depends on whether we switch our minds from “not letting be” to “letting be”.
In Tao Teh Ching 81 it says:
Truthful words are not beautiful.
Beautiful words are not truthful.
Good men do not argue.
Those who argue are not good.
Those who know are not learned.
The learned do not know.
The wise man never tries to store things up.
The more he does for others, the more he has.
The more he gives to others, the greater his abundance.
The Tao of Heaven is pointed but does not harm.
The Tao of the wise man is to work without effort.