The Tao is empty
When utilized, it is not filled up
So deep! It seems to be the source of all things
It blunts the sharpness
Unravels the knots
Dims the glare
Mixes the dusts
So indistinct! It seems to exist
I do not know whose offspring it is
Its image is the predecessor of the Emperor
Reflection
Everything that can be known is swallowed by the Tao. That is, everything that has ever been known, all that has yet to be known and that which will never occur or be known. These contradicting and opposing things are only united in concept as ( ). It’s imperceivable, only felt by its gravity, pressure, depth.
It would help if we could consider it as something like death. Imagine the portal that every human walks through, at the end of our lives. We can imagined what happens to us at that moment, but we cannot say with any confidence that we understand what it feels like.
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I have known those who became offended at the idea that maybe, heaven or hell doesn’t exist. Just think of how funny that is! The only reason to feel that way is to believe you have been stripped your fate in paradise, or that hell will no longer punish those you wish were there, or want to send there.
An endless void can create an existential anxiety for those used to creating their reality out of known material. Maybe the idea that there is a blackhole from which no light escapes can feel intimidating. It annihilates any significance we might feel about our personal identities, values, ideals, and morality, just the same as death.
However, once we zoom out enough within the plane of time, it’s the only natural and inevitable conclusion. That is to say, the blunting of sharpness, unraveling of knots, dimming of glares, mixing of dust. I believe the Tao jumps right into the heart of this infinity where no polarities can exist, so beginning and end is the same.
I watched a video online
I came across a video of an Indian man, speaking directly to the viewer scrolling on their phone. He poses questions, like “why do you seek spiritual advice online?” which I thought was ironic.
He says a spiritual stage where you are completely unaffected by the events of life, is the wrong spiritual outcome. He tells a story of himself and his own coldness, believing that since all of life was the same and nothing mattered, he couldn’t offer sympathy to anyone grieving. He dismissed their suffering as foolish because they were illusions.
I thought this was a good thing to bring up, and had found myself in that place a couple of years ago. When reading texts like the Tao, the concept is so abstract that in my struggle to grasp its endless breadth, it was easy to lose sight of the small details that concern the living. If everything only turns to dust, is there a point of engaging with the world? I find that this pseudo-enlightened mind results in someone who then barely even has access to their own emotions, doesn’t even understand the fabric of the illusions they’re talking about. When time comes for mastery, they can only sit in shallow waters outside the landscape of creation, having dismissed the opportunities to discover the hidden secrets and wisdoms of experience. I believe those can only be earned through engagement with what the falsely enlightened refers to as illusions.
How can mastery be a word used to describe something that is much more like laziness and escapism? I think that ‘mastery’ refers to the experience of harmonising, enduring and expressing our emotional selves so we can enact a better humanity. To completely dismiss our human emotions with intellect is to avoid the very things we can’t control (emotions), with something that is only too easy to control (the mind).