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📿 The Eternal Way
This week’s Saturday meditation comes from The Tao Te Ching (often attributed to the Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu). Listen to the meditation below on today’s episode of The Wisdom School (Apple Podcasts or Spotify). Lao-Tzu is credited with founding the philosophical system of Taoism. He is best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching, translated as “The Way of Virtue” or “The Classic of the Way and Virtue.” According to Lao Tzu,
The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name. The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth. The names is the mother of creation. Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery. By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real. Yet mystery and reality emerge from the same source. This source is called darkness. Darkness born from darkness. The beginning of all understanding. ... Thirty spokes are joined together in a wheel, but it is the centre hole that allows the wheel to function. We mould clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that makes the vessell useful. We fashion wood for a house, but it is the emptiness inside that makes it liveable. We work with the substantial, but the emptiness is what we use. ... Look for it, and it can't be seen. Listen for it, and it can't be heard. Grasp for it, and it can't be caught. These three cannot be further described, so we treat them as One. Its highest is not bright. Its depths is not dark. Unending, unnameable, it return to nothingness. Formless forms, and imageless images, subtle, beyond all understanding. Approach it and you will not see a beginning; follow it and there will be no end. When we grasp the Tao of the ancient ones, we can use it to direct our life today. To know the ancient origin of Tao: this is the beginning of wisdom.
Contemplation Questions (Pick one or create your own!):
What does it mean to free oneself from desire?
How can you apply today’s meditation in daily life?
This Week’s Meditations…
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Thank you for reading this week; I hope you found something useful.
Until next time, be wise and be well,
P.S. Feel free to comment, ask questions, or make suggestions!