Verse Fourteen

Eyes look but cannot see it. Ears listen but cannot hear it. Hands grasp but cannot touch it. Beyond the senses lies the great Unity--invisible, inaudible, intangible.

- Unity is beyond individual perception
- When all, it can be perceived, but it cannot be relayed person to person
- It is futile to get because the goal of the individual contrasts the goal of unity--take and give.

Application: The individual's desire repels unity. If one seeks unity to see God, take wisdom, and boast about it, that search will never end. It is strange to write about this because in a way it seems like I'm showing off wisdom and boasting my "enlightenment." But any boasting I do shows that I have not been enlightened. Instead of desiring spiritual awakening, one should desire inner peace and universal love. But here I go again, an individual telling people how to do things.

What rises up appears bright. What settles down appears dark. Yet there is neither darkness nor light, just an unbroken dance of shadows. From nothingness is fullness and back again to nothingness. This formless form. This imageless image cannot be grasped by mind or might. Try to face it--In what place will you stand? Try to follow it--To what place will you go?

- An individual cannot enter a place with no entrance or exit
- An individual cannot follow what has no time
- What is perceived/experienced as unity can be expressed by an individual

Application: When I first transcribed this verse, it addressed what I was reading in The Tao of Physics at the time, about particle physics. This part of verse 14 says to me that Unity or God is something an individual cannot possess. Possessing anything is selfish and therefore not in the realm of Unity/God. I like this verse because it erases the spiritual or moral righteousness--something I dislike in all fundamentalist faiths.

Know That which is beyond all beginnings and you will know everything here and now. Know everything in the moment and you will know the Eternal Tao.

- The Tao does not follow time, no beginning and no end.
- The present lasts forever.
- Experiencing now is experiencing Unity
- All that was and will be can be found now through Unity.

Application: I love this part of 14 because it's such a freeing concept in terms of time. If we see the past and future as part of the present, we can feel more empowered. The past is not etched in stone and the future is not eminent. I like to see the present as infinite instead of limited to a fraction of a second. We can learn from the past but we don't have to hold on to the past. We should make the present greater than the past. When we see all as one, we find that we ourselves are also infinite and not limited to the short time we have on Earth. Instead of grasping every second of one's life in a panic, we should enjoy the present as long as possible.