Saturday, February 15, 2025
The Tao is filled with seeming contradictory language. “Everyone knows beauty as beauty because they know ugliness, knows good as good by knowing bad.” “Because it doesn’t strive for greatness, it achieves it.”
I’ve extracted just a couple of verses for illustration sake. If I were to summarize the Tao, I would say that it tries to show us the best of both worlds. If you are well versed in the Tao, please forgive me. Jesus summed up his viewpoint in one sentence – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.” So, I’ll sum up the “law” of ancient wisdom, too! You can have the best of both worlds.
Spiritualists use parables, which seem paradoxical. That’s because we’re trying to point to the best of both worlds, which seem opposing. There is only one world, one God, one you. There is only one present moment. What is both worldliness? I wish I could say.
Living in the best of both worlds is awesome, once you get it. Spiritual and physical are both alike. They are concepts. Human and God are both alike. They are concepts. Flesh and spirit are both alike. They are concepts. But somehow, swimming in all of this so-called duality leads to truth. The Tao states, “The two aspects are one; we call them two to speak at all, of change.”
It’s what’s in between the lines; the backstory; the implication; and the background that we miss it, although nothing is missing at all! Remembering is forgetfulness. We can’t always remember the Yin/Yang, but nestling in the middle of flesh and spirit is wordless Truth. You can see and live in the best of both worlds, but there is only one world, one you, one Truth. How? I wish I could articulate it.