The Tao doesn’t take sides;
it gives birth to both good and evil.
The master doesn’t take sides;
she welcomes both saints and sinners.
The Tao is like a bellows:
it is empty yet infinitely capable.
The more you use it, the more it produces;
the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Hold onto the center.
When it comes to the Way Of The Tao there is no ‘right’ ‘wrong’ ‘good’ ‘evil’ and so forth. The Tao doesn’t take sides. In fact the tao does not show preference over one thing. It does not deprive something while giving energy to others. The tao provides life and energy in equal parts to all living things. Nothing is more deserving than another. The tao refuses to play favourites.
Sometimes I have a hard time with this idea. You would like to think that I’m a good person I do good things, Therefore I am better than someone who does bad things or someone who makes bad choices. But this verse says that the Tao doesn’t take sides. It welcomes both saints and sinners. The person that I think is the “bad” person has just as must right and just as much access to the Tao as I do.
The more we are living from the tao then the more it is available to us. However, it is still equally available to all those who have not yet connected to it. Its an exhaustable energy that we can tap into constantly.
This next section that says “it is empty yet infinitely capable, the more you use it the more produces” makes a lot of sense to me.The more love I give , the more love I have to give. The more I work at being mindful or centered or happy, the more I get. You don’t use up these things the more you use them. they produce more.
“The more you talk of it the less you understand” makes me smile. If I try to explain what it is that I am feeling or learning or experiencing, The less I understand it. Sometimes words don’t fully express the situation.
The more you think, the more you find things to think about and the more you know that you don’t know.