What is Tao?
Please, be reminded that the purpose of this forum is to learn and correct the language. Kindly send your opinions about religion via PM...thank you.
Having set the stage we now arrive at the question. What is Tao?
The word Tao has many meanings. It literally means 'principle', or 'beginning'. Tao is the 'Intelligent Principle? that dwells throughout the Universe. Tao is a celestial secret? it has no form, it is immutable and uncreated'It is present in every element, in every particle that gives form to all creations.
Tao permeates all levels of existence and nonexistence'all visible and invisible domains'its intrinsic nature governs all spheres of Life. Tao is eternal, it has no beginning and no end, however Tao does not precede Creation, Creation is a potential eternally contained within Tao'Creation is a mere particle of the Great Tao therefore it has a limit, a beginning and an end.
What has been created can be measured, regardless of its magnitude, or it can be detected, despite its pettiness. Nevertheless, Tao cannot be measured nor detected. Tao is infinitely big and infinitely small. Tao does not exclude anything because everything is a part of Tao.
Omnipresence is another characteristic of Tao. In the following biblical passage we are able to observe how all things are manifestations of Tao.
St. John chapter1'In the beginning was the Word: the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things came into being, not one thing came into being except through him. What has come into being in him was life, life that was the light of men; and light shines in darkness, and darkness could not overpower it.?
These passages teach us that the Word is the designer of all things. The power of the Word can be used to create and to heal or to curse and destroy. For this reason we must think before we speak, for we may risk bringing harm to others and karma upon ourselves.
Other words that are used to describe Tao are Path and Way.
Tao is The Way that our souls must travel in order to return to Heaven. Tao is not a religion, is a Way of Life; Tao demonstrates how we should live to attain harmony with the Universe (Nature) and our fellow human beings. Tao is God and God is The Lord of all souls.
2 Answers
woajiaorobert:
I have considered your use of ellipses (the use of '...') in your 1st two paragraphs. I have left it alone. I reviewed the following document only as to the use of ellipses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ellipsis
and having done that I can see in my mind's eye (or my mind's ear), how these paragraphs might be spoken to an audience. Note that for 'it's intrinsic nature governs," there should be an apostrophe between the t and s of the word "it's".
A question.
'In the beginning was the Word, ... the Word was God.? Could a reader or listener infer from this that God and the Word are one and the same?
If yes, is that what you want to imply?
If yes to both, could a reader again infer in the next paragraph that whether it was the Word or God the paragraph would have the same meaning?
Does any of my question(s) matter?
I try to keep my observations pointed at the spelling and grammar of your work. I hope you will see this as no more than an observation on how the work will be understood. If communication is the transfer of meaning from one person to another, I am only asking if readers/listeners will receive the message you are trying to send.
Just a suggestion, but I think it would be better to write 'Tao is not a religion, it is a Way of Life'. For me that small 'it? seems needed here. Also, I suggest this sentence should end here with a full stop period.
I hope I have not skated onto thin ice here. Some of my observations may seem to be at least bordering on the ethereal. That was not my intention. I enjoy helping you to solve problems arising from the use of my mother tongue by a well intentioned individual with a different mother tongue. We can get this right if we remember that our two paragons are looking over our shoulders.
My best personal regards,
Moe.
Hi Moe: Well, I took those verses right out of the Bible as you probably know. And yes, that is exactly the message I'm trying to deliver, that God and the Word are One. About the next paragraph, I know is not completely clear without further explanation but I'm sort of considering the audience. I also tried to create a bridge in the paragraph by using the word "designer". In this case this will allude to the idea of the Creator and the Word...I think. I know exactly what you mean Moe, sometimes we take for granted that people would understand what we are talking about because we already know it...that's something to watch...well, I hope you are enjoying this somewhat...thanks again.
