*TAO/*TAOISM - also see BALANCE, COMPLETE, WHOLE, INTEGRATE, UNITY, YIN-YANG, BOTH, NOT-TWO, SYNTHESIS, DUALISM, DIVERSITY, HARMONY, WAY, PATH
God is like the Tao, where the Way is that of both yin and yang in its totality. For example, for the best results there must be both quality and quantity, not one or the other. Binary numbers is a complete system since it can represent any number by combinations of zeros and ones. And the various cycles of life complete themselves as they go from one extreme to the other and back again forming one continuous circle. Wisdom as having both love (powerlessness) and knowledge (power). Synthesis, which combines thesis and antithesis, produces a new creation. I wonder: is the Trinity also an example of Tao, where Father (old, OT, Moses, obedience) and Son (new, NT, Jesus, grace) are one and the same in Spirit and where each fulfills the other? Life is bittersweet having both suffering and joy. Are people higher (more complete) than the angels because they experience both flesh (evil) and spirit (good)? And Earth which lies between heaven and hell? (Randy, 3/8/97)
Lao Tzu's volume of 5000 words is Tao Te Ching which means "The Way/Path" "that leads straight from the heart" "Sacred Book". We may find a world of peace, leaving behind a world of cares. (Tao 62) Peace is an inside job. Only when we find peace within ourselves can we see more clearly, act more effectively, cooperating with the energies within and around us to buld a more peaceful world. To live wisely, to seek personal balance and integration with the cycles of nature, searching for new patterns of harmony in everything from holistic health, psychology, physics, ecology, and social action. The Tao teaches patience, precision, and timing. Detaching from problems, we discover solutions. We learn to stop resisting and flow with the natural patterns, bringing greater joy and harmony to our lives. The Tao leads outward, promoting successful action because it first leads inward. The Tao teaches a vision of life as process, a process much larger than ourselves. THIS IS AT ONCE THE JOURNEY AND THE DESTINATION. The Tao offers us new sources of power and inspiration, a vision of peace to transform ourselves and our world. (Tao Peace, xi-xv)
Taoists believe there are two basic forces in the universe: yin (female - left side - darker color) and yang (male - right side - lighter color). (1996 World Book Encyclopedia)
The universe as a living process governed by the interplay of opposites. We live amid a dynamic dance of complementary forces - yin and yang - manifest in the mysterious cooeration of light and dark, heat and cold, male and female, willfulness and receptivity. The art of living is a question of balance. (Wisdom, Taoism, p145)
The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. Free from desire you realize the mystery, caught in desire you see only the manifestations. The Tao is called the Great Mother: empty yet inexhaustible, it gives birth to infinite worlds. It was never born, thus it can never die. It has no desires for itself, thus it is present for all beings. The great Tao flows everywhere. All things are born from it, yet it doesn't create them. It pours itself into its work, yet it makes no claim. Since it is merged with all things and hidden in their hearts, it can be called humble. It springs into existence, unconscious, perfect, free, takes on physical body, lets circumstances complete it. The Tao creates without possessing, guides without interfering. (Wisdom, Taoism, p148-9)
How can the divine Oneness be seen? In beautiful forms, breathtaking wonders, awe-inspiring miracles? The Tao is not obliged to present itself in this way. If you are willing to be lived by it, you will see it everywhere, even in the most ordinary things. (Taoism, Wisdom, p170)
In Zen there is a saying, "That which one can deviate from is not the true Tao." At a much deeper level there is a Tao, a Way, [a Spirit,] a Current of the Kosmos from which we have not, and could never, deviate. And part of our job is to find this deeper Current, this Tao, and express it, elucidate (to make clear; throw light upon; explain) it, celebrate it. Thinking we have deviated from nature shows that we have not understood the true Tao from which we do not, and could never, deviate. (Everything, p65-6)
God and man need / want / love each other. (Randy)
Neither Ascent or Descent is final, ultimate, or privileged, but rather like the primordial yin and yang THEY GENERATE EACH OTHER, DEPEND UPON EACH OTHER, CANNOT EXIST WITHOUT THE OTHER, AND FIND THEIR OWN TRUE BEING BY DYING INTO THE OTHER, ONLY TO AWAKEN TOGETHER, JOINED IN BLISS, AS THE ENTIRE KOSMOS. (Everything, p255)
Neither yin nor yang can exist or progress without the other (see p?? of A Brief History of Everything). For example, the physical body needs emotional stability to progress in spirit and vicsa versa. (Randy)
Chinese philosophical system from 4th century BC whose influence is second only to Confucianism. Whereas Confucianism urged the individual to conform to the standards of an ideal social system, Taoism maintained that the individual should ignore the dictates of society and seek only to conform with the underlying pattern of the universe, the Tao ("way"), which can neither be described in words nor conceived in thought. By emptying oneself of all doctrines and knowledge, one achieves unity with the Tao and derives from it a mystical power. (Funk & Wagnalls Encyclopedia)