Verse Twenty-one

Perfect action. True action. Supreme power. That is how the Tao is revealed through those who follow it completely.

- These 3 things must come naturally.
- They come from unity and not the individual.
- Individual action, virtue, and power do not reveal the Tao.

Application: These lines could be taken out of context to contradict the message of the Tao Te Ching. I realize that it is the Tao that is revealing the action and power and not the individual.

Though formless and intangible, it gives rise to form. Though vague and elusive, it gives rise to shapes. Though dark and obscure, it is the spirit, the essence, the life-breath of all things. "But is it real?" you ask--I say its evidence is all of creation.

- Many individuals arise from the invisible unity
- Something seems to be created out of nothing
- Emptiness is a source and an end of the individual and should not be feared

Application: This part of verse 21 is comforting in that it helps me view nothingness/emptiness/without as something beneficial. In modern American society, it seems that that's what everyone is afraid of. This is also the core of the fear of death. Why should we be afraid of what we came from? Nothing is how it is perceived as individuals, but through meditation that nothing is revealed as God or unity.

From the first moment to the present, the Name has been sounding. It is the gate through which the universe enters. The witness by which the universe sees.

- Unity is limitless and without form or borders
- It cannot end or be perceived physically
- It is the energy that makes us feel alive

Application: What we don't perceive is what gives us consciousness. We are more than an amalgamation of chemicals in a humanoid form. This realization helps me to understand the overused tag of someone being "special." That something special is the energy of life.

How have I come to know all this? That very Name has told me. That Name which is sounding right here, right now.

- I perceive therefore I am.
- Tao or the unity can be discovered through meditation, perceiving all as one
- It interprets the outside inside

Application: Through the context of unity, I am the universe and the universe is me. When I look into the vast depths of space, I am looking at a part of me. Time and space come together as one unit, the universe, me. This thought is both liberating and frightening. On one hand, I control my destiny. On the other, my destiny controls me. It is both. What makes life worth living is balancing the two.