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LXXXVII. Mother
God Father Love and the Tao
Maybe a most optimistic myth about the existence of an infinity, divinity, eternally, one; is similar to a myth about the existence of the Tao. Maybe belief that from this infinity, divinity, eternally, one; come soul spirit of world and seed body of world; is similar to belief that from the one Tao come the two; yin and yang. Maybe for Taoists yin represents everything about the world that is dark, hidden, passive, receptive, yielding, cool, soft, and feminine. I assign a feminine gender and the name Mother God to soul spirit of world. Maybe for Taoists yang represents everything about the world that is illuminated, evident, active, aggressive, controlling, hot, hard, and masculine. I assign a masculine gender and the name Father Love to seed body of world. Soul spirit of world creates soul spirit of self. Seed body of world creates seed body of self. I believe that from the unity of soul spirit of world and seed body of world an infinite number, diversity and variety of finite creatures are born. I believe an infinite number, diversity and variety of finite creatures are created by, and in the image of, an infinite creator; each being endowed with a divine eternal soul spirit, and a fractal infernal temporal seed body. These are the Soul Children of Mother God and Father Love. "The Tao that can be told is not the
eternal Tao." So begins the Tao Te Ching (pronounced as ‘Dow De Jing’) of Lao
Tzu,
written some 2,500 years ago. Chapter
25 of the book begins with a brief passage that reveals to me that Taoists have some
of beliefs that are similar to my own beliefs. Something
mysteriously formed, Born before heaven and
earth. In the silence and the
void, Standing alone and
unchanging, Ever present and in
motion. Perhaps it is the
mother of ten thousand things. I do not know its
name. Call it Tao.
Taoists
say the Tao is Mother of perhaps ten thousand things. Maybe ten thousand things are not the
same as an infinite number, diversity and variety of finite creatures created by, and in the image of, an infinite one;
each being endowed with a divine eternal soul spirit, and a fractal infernal temporal
seed body. Maybe the
concept of infinity would not have been native to the thinking of those that first taught,
entertained, and led; others to muse about the Tao. I doubt the difference in enumeration
of things is significant. How then, to describe the indescribable? How to fit into words a being that is beyond words? If you insist on a description, Taoists may call the it vast, active, and moving in great cycles. The Tao is the constant round of life and death and all that falls between. The Tao resides in us as we reside in the Tao. The Tao is the source as well as the end of our being. The Tao neither judges nor condemns but continually blesses, in all moments, with an unending cycle of change and renewal. The Tao is what has always been and always will be, regardless of whether we humans blow ourselves into the astral. The Tao actually has no need of us yet continually and forever sustains us. As Chuang-tzu says, 'It exists by and through itself,' it is self-generating, of itself so. I note that the Taoist idea of a self-generating Tao; is similar to my idea of an infinity, divinity, eternally, one; that self-organizes into, and manifests for the purposes of enjoying entertainment as, an infinite seed, an infinite body, an infinite soul, and an infinite spirit. The Tao is the way.
The Tao
is source, destination, purpose, and process. In imagining and exploring the Tao, the process
and the destination are the same. John Blofeld says that in Chinese thought "the
notion of a Supreme Being, so essential to Western religions, is replaced by that of a
Supreme State of Being, an impersonal perfection that all beings, including man, are
separated from only by delusion." Taoists believe
this
Supreme State of Being is not some unattainable something "out there", far
removed from the mundane affairs of humankind. Taoists believe this Supreme State of Being
is something that we are part of and is a part of us. Maybe it is much harder to
live with a wrathful, personified deity than to live with something so simple, so natural,
and all encompassing as the Tao. As Alan Watts said, "It may reign but it does not rule.
It is the pattern of things but not the enforcer." Maybe this all inclusive
Supreme State of Being is a step closer to the way I fashion reality than is the
idea of an exclusive Supreme Being promoted by communities of faithful
believers who self organize around Abrahamic religions. The Tao itself does
not judge, it does not condemn, it does not punish. Taoist believe that by refusing to go
along with the majestic flow of the Tao, we punish ourselves and cause ourselves all sorts of
worries and problems. Similarly I teach that a foundation of truth and knowledge
of theory based
on scientifically reproducible discovery tells us about laws of cause and effect that predict the behavior, fate and
destiny of matter and energy in the known universe. We punish ourselves, if we refuse to
discover, know, understand, apply, analyze, create and evaluate these laws of cause and effect
that predict the behavior, fate and destiny of matter and energy in the known
universe. Maybe universal laws of cause and effect suggest a system of
reward and punishment that conditions all life forms to conform to a standard of conduct that best
produces rewards of happiness and health. Maybe our universe punishes us when we
deviate from a standard of conduct suggested by universal laws of cause and effect with
sadness, fear, anger, disease and or death. Taoists believe
that everything is sacred, not just musty old "holy" books or special buildings
or even special people whose job it is to act as intermediaries between the sacred and the
profane. To the followers of the way there is no difference between the sacred and the
profane. There is no escaping
the Tao or sacredness. Taoist believe that the Tao is contained within everything as
everything is contained within the Tao. |
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