Verse Thirty-seven

Tao does not act yet it is the root of all action. Tao does not move yet it is the source of all creation.

- All individuals emerge from unity
- All perceptions emerge from the hidden

Application: Here Tao sounds like God. Instead of an active God who judges, rewards, and punishes, he is a passive God. I have adopted this viewpoint of God as one who is the source but not necessarily the controller. So I believe in free will.

If princes and kings could hold it, everyone under them would naturally turn within. Should a doubt or old desire rise up, the Nameless Simplicity would push it down. The Nameless Simplicity frees the heart of desire and reveals its inner silence.

- When the powerful grasp the truth, they lose their power
- One goal of unity is to remove desire from the individual

Application: Here I noticed the mutual exclusivity of truth and worldly power. As the Bible states, the truth will set you free. Most individuals prefer a quest of power than a quest of truth, and that is unfortunate. I think there is a time in everyone's life in which he or she sees the two paths--truth or power--and can foresee the results of both. Worldly power brings worldly glory and that seems much more appealing than truth which brings peace. I'd like to be on the path of truth and I hope my line of work is in harmony with it.

When there is silence one finds peace. When there is silence one finds the anchor of the universe within himself.

- The cessation of perceptions brings one to unity
- Without perception, one perceives unity
- When the individual no longer sees the external, he sees the internal

Application: I am currently reading some Quaker literature, and there is a strong likeness between this part of verse 37 and Quaker ideology. This is evidence that one can be both Christian and Taoist. So one does not need to veer away from Christ to grasp Taoism. My discovery of Quakerism was a pleasant one.