Floating Life

# Ray Grigg, The New Lao Tzu (Tuttle 1995) makes the Tao vibrant. This is my favourite religious text.

So I wrote in 2005; it is still one of my favourites. I found some extensive quotes from it on Church of the Churchless, a blog with quite a few good things on it.

Those who know of the Tao
recognize it as great.
Why is it great?
Because it is different.
Why is it different?
Because it cannot be understood.
If it could be understood,
it would not have lasted
from the beginning of the beginning.

The wise know
they do not know;
The fools do not know
they do not know.

The Tao that can be named
is not the nameless Tao.
The Tao that can be known
is not the unknowable Tao.

Look but it cannot be seen,
so it has no form.
Listen but it cannot be heard,
so it makes no sound.
Think but it cannot be thought,
so it defies understanding

Because it cannot be discerned,
it cannot be discovered.
Because it cannot be thought,
it cannot be known.
Still it seems to be something,
a something that is everywhere
but nowhere.

How can anyone who just drifts and wonders,
who can’t even be sure of themselves,
Take seriously all these rituals,
all this herding?
It seems better just to be alone and quiet,
not belonging anywhere.
Everyone else seems eager and dutiful,
but the deeper way seems lonely and confusing.
Everyone else seems clear and definite,
but the deeper way seems dark and uncertain.

What is a person to do when being adrift at sea,
when being blown aimlessly anywhere,
seems to be a more profound calling?
When everyone else seems busy and purposeful,
what is to be done with an urge
that is confusing and lonely,
and different?

When everyone else
is guided by the affairs of people,
What is this urge
that comes from the Great Mother?

To which I would add:

Without the Tao,
Kindness and compassion
are replaced by law and justice;
Faith and trust are supplanted
by ritual and ceremony.

When people become disconnected
from the inherent simplicity of things,
They lose their primal virtue

And then they invite even more trouble
by turning to prophets and seers.