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Selection - The Spirit of Lao Tsu

Chapter 1: The Nameless Is the Beginning of Heaven and Earth
Page: 2/3

It is, for this reason, a mistake to force a religious way on others, or to describe religion with words alone. Indeed, to force religion upon others only smothers the profound flavor of the divine spirit in a distasteful, often unpalatable, crust of empty rhetoric. The true Way will only reveal itself when each individual leads a life of sincere practice, thereby joining in a natural manner with the spirit of divinity itself.
The same applies to names as well. We all hold a variety of names and titles as a consequence of having been born into a world composed of innumerable groups, organizations, corporations, and so forth. Numerous as the titles are, they represent little more than the superficial appellations affixed by the various people and organizations themselves. They have nothing to do with the true name that remains far below the surface, concealed.
A person’s true name refers to what is more commonly called his or her heavenly mission or divine purpose in life. A person’s mission may be expressed in this world through a name or title but, Lao Tsu cautions, this does not mean that we should attach ourselves to such names. Once attached to a single title, it becomes impossible to express the true name, and the mission that lies beneath can easily be left unfulfilled.

The Nameless is the beginning of Heaven and Earth.
That with name is the mother of all creation.


The Nameless—that without name—is the source of the energy used to create the universe. The Nameless is the origin of the positive force that works behind everything that existed prior to the appearance of all relativistic phenomena.
This creative force and ultimate power that pervades the universe has been termed many things over the ages. It has been referred to as ‘God’ or the ‘Omnipotent’ by some, and the ‘Great Life Force,’ ‘Creator,’ or ‘Way’ by others. The fact that this Great Life Force has gone by such a variety of names underscores an important, if often forgotten, point: for human beings to grasp the astronomical concept of the original energy source that lies behind everything, it is imperative that at least a temporary title be affixed. Without the use of names, people simply cannot comprehend.
This is why Lao Tsu adopts the term ‘The Nameless.’ And yet, even though called The Nameless, The Nameless is itself a title. It is to avoid the confusion caused by this paradox that I personally prefer to use the more direct term, ‘God,’ instead.
‘God is the beginning of Heaven and Earth.’ Put in this more readily understandable form, the meaning of Lao Tsu’s original lines are made clear. Heaven and Earth exist within God, and each represents a single manifestation of God’s total being. It is important to realize, however, that the Heaven and Earth referred to here are not simply the blue sky and dark soil that we see when we gaze out upon the horizon. Lao Tsu speaks here about the deeper, spiritual Heaven and Earth that express themselves via the sky and ground for us to appreciate. Encompassing the blue sky and earth outside, this spiritual Heaven and Earth extend within a human being as well, continually operating there as what is commonly referred to as ‘Yin’ and ‘Yang.’


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