The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
When Rob first tried to explain Taoism to me, he told me what he thought it was, how it seems to him, what he understands of it. But that is what can be told, it is not all that it is. The eternal Tao can never be fully put into words. If I try to tell you right now at the beginning of this book what it means, I would do a poor job of it because I am not sure what it fully is. When I get to the end of this book, I might be a little clearer in my mind what it is but will I be able to tell you? What ever I tell you will not be the eternal Tao because to you it might mean something different.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
Why put things inside a box? Why limit something. Grow! Change!
Be your self-whatever that is. If you tell a child that she is a picky eater she will except that role and become a picky eater.
If I label myself as a “non-runner” then why should I put on my tennis shoes and go for a run.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in the desire, you see only the manifestations.
I don’t know what this means by manifestations. Are the manifestations bad if you are focused completely on one thing you may miss all the things the universe is trying to tell you
Why be free from desire? Is it desire a good thing? Maybe it depends on what you desire. I desire to be happy and I desire to love route the best I can. What mysteries am I not realizing?
I was going to say that I desire to be loved but I realize that I have no control over someone else says life and someone else is loving. I can only be a person worthy of love. I can only control myself, love myself.
But I don’t know what mysteries that presents. What mysteries is to be realized.