As with my interest in buddhism I am not about to become a follower, but the ideas, the ways of being advocated by the Tao, hold great interest for me and in many ways it is closer to both how I feel and how I would like to be than any other philosophy I have encountered. It is a strange philosophy and yet it seems to encapsulate much of what I have been thinking and feeling over the past several months since I decided I needed to slow down, to restrict my reading and take more time over things. The Tao is like a logical puzzle, yet it is neither logical nor a puzzle. I have, for a long time, been interested in buddhism, not to the extent that I could become a ‘follower’ but rather because there are ideas in buddhism which intrigue me, and the Tao has similar appeal but I was not quite ready for how wholly it would entrance me. I think I must have read something else which made reference to it and out of the thinnest thread of curiosity I decided to borrow it from the library. Outside of my ordinary reading I have been dipping into poetry and other such things and somehow I came across the Tao, I can’t really remember how it happened. Why did the ancient Masters esteem the Tao?Īnd when you make a mistake, you are forgiven.This is not a regular review, more of a reflection. He considers those who point out his fault

No greater misfortune than having an enemy. No greater wrong than preparing to defend yourself, When you realize there is nothing lacking, If you don’t understand this, you will get lost, What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher? When the clouds pass, the sun shines through.Ī good scientist has freed himself of concepts She is present, and can welcome all things.

Till your mud settles and the water is clear? When you are content to be simply yourself, The author was most definitely an enlightened individual who had tapped into the deeper workings of our world. It’s one of those books that you love, not because it teaches you anything new, but because it articulates that which you know to be true from experience, as all good books do. I’ve heard people say that the book is very much like a Rorschach test, in the sense that it reflects the reader, and his or her own state of mind, more than anything else. It’s a short volume, but dense with wisdom and universal truths. I read the book during a time in my life when the content resonated very deeply with me.

In fact, he gave me a copy of it as a gift (the Stephen Mitchell translation, to be exact). I first learned of the Tao Te Ching in 2010 after a strong recommendation from long-time friend.

Tao Te Ching by Stephen Mitchell