What is the Tao?
The Tao that can be understood is not the eternal, cosmic Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words is not the infinite idea.
And yet this ineffable Tao is the course of all spirit and matter; expressing itself, it is the mother of all created things.
Not to desire material things is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire them is to suffer the limitations of matter.
These two things—spirit and matter—so different in nature, have the same origin. This unity of origin is the mystery of mysteries, and the gateway to spirituality.
- Lao Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching. (Translation by Dwight Goddard, compilation by Sam Torode.)
And yet this ineffable Tao is the course of all spirit and matter; expressing itself, it is the mother of all created things.
Not to desire material things is to know the freedom of spirituality; and to desire them is to suffer the limitations of matter.
These two things—spirit and matter—so different in nature, have the same origin. This unity of origin is the mystery of mysteries, and the gateway to spirituality.
- Lao Tzu, in the Tao Te Ching. (Translation by Dwight Goddard, compilation by Sam Torode.)