CHAPTER 1 – I’M SORRY; YOU MUST BE OUT OF YOUR MIND

Chapter 1 – I’m Sorry; You Must Be Out of Your Mind

The Tao that can be told is not the Eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the Eternal Name.

Nothingness is the Origin of Heaven and Earth.
Beingness is the Mother of the Ten Thousand Things.

When you are free of desire, you will understand the Essence of your life.
When you identify with your desires, you will observe the manifestations of your life.

Both contain the deepest secrets arising from the dark unknown, the Doorway to the Mysteries of Life.

A writer named Amy Putkonen invited me to participate in a project commenting on one chapter of the Tao Te Ching each week.  Although others have engaged in similar considerations of this Chinese classic – in popular culture, Wayne Dyer is the best known – the work lends itself to so many interpretations that it should be interesting to see what may be said now by folks like me who are not Chinese scholars.

As a Taoist dilettante, I have irregularly studied the Tao Te Ching for nearly 50 years.  Perhaps this project will allow me to bring together some of my subconscious thoughts concerning the Tao, or “the Way.”  With another 80 weeks to go, and with opportunity ahead to read what others say, I will defer more general comments about the Way and look briefly at the first chapter.

On one level, these few words are a philosophically profound, poetic statement of the nature of life, the Universe and everything.  Most commentators have tried to analyze them on that level.  Since that has been done many times by those smarter and more knowledgeable than me, I would like to take a different approach. Continue reading