Tao teh Ching
[Under development: 3 June 2005 ]
This extract from the Tao teh Ching (a book written in China about 2,500 years ago) emphasises a fundamental epistemological dilemma: how do we know what we know? There is a sense in which the world is unknowable other than what we perceive through our senses. What happens to material that we ‘know’ that is not gained though our senses?
· How easily do you live with high levels of uncertainty?
· Of what are you certain?
· What is your typical response to uncertainty?
· How open are you to sources of wisdom from outside the culture with which you are most familiar?
extract from the Tao teh Ching
Looked for, Tao cannot be seen; it is invisible.
Listened for, Tao cannot be heard; it is inaudible.
Reached for, Tao cannot be touched; it is intangible.
Tao is the form of the formless; it is the existence of non-existence; it is
the greatest mystery.
Meet Tao and it has no face; follow it and it has
no back.
Through Tao everything exists, yet it does not take
possession.
Tao provides for everything, yet it does not lay claim.
Without motive, Tao seems small. Being the source of mystery,
Tao is great.
by Lao Tse
