The First 2 Items from Lao Tzu's Tao-Te-Ching
reworked and configured by TOLTECH
(1)The world as we understand it is not the world. It is only the world as we understand it.
The universe as we understand it is not the universe. It is only the universe as we understand it.
Whatever we say a thing is, it isn't (from Count Alfred Korzybski's "Law of Non-Identity")
Life and Reality are truly nameless and formless.
That which is named gives birth to an infinity of things
Freed from desire, anyone can know the Ultimate Truth
Should you "desire" to know the Truth, you will only find endless manifestations of the Truth (aka. shadows, illusions, maya, hallucinations, dreams, phantasms, )
Truly there is no difference between "Truth" or its manifestations
But seekers of Truth can be imprisoned by their thirst for Truth
They will never find it for the simple reason that there is no difference between the seeker and the sought. There is no difference whatsoever between the things we seek to understand and the things in us that seek to understand. (see also: A dog chasing its own tail)
This nameless and formless reality cannot be described
So Lao Tzu called it "Tao."
(2)
The self contrasts with the other
The known defines itself through the unknown
Yes harmonizes with No, Black and White suggest each other
What goes up must come down
People know 2 because they know -2, or 1 because they know 0
In the same way, being is realized because it directly opposes non-being
Existence is not non-existence.
Polar opposites contrast, distinguish, harmonize, imply and explain one another
There is no thing that does not have some thing as its opposite
If something can be defined by what it is, then also it can be defined by what it is not
Every action causes an equal and opposite reaction (from Sir Issac Newtown's "Third Law of Motion")
Opposite items occur in the presence of each other, the quality of opposition being the glue that holds them together.
Before and After are One. Chronological time is only a convincing illusion done with mirrors, but Eternity is equally unreal.
Apart from this and that, yin and yang....
Apart from all opposites; what is there?
A Zen master held up a staff and said: "If you call this a staff, you affirm. If you do not call it a staff, you deny. Beyond affirmation and negation, what is this?"
(The Remaining chapters have been omitted for added confusion)
see also:
The Seven Hermetic Principles
"The Nature of Polarity" by Alan W. Watts
Zen Koans (Small Anecdotes about the Nature of Reality and Enlightenment)
