Tao of Emerson

1.The Tao that can be trodden is not the enduring and unchanging Tao. The name that can be named is not the enduring and unchanging name. Conceived as having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; Having a name, it is the Mother of all things. Always without desire we must be found, If its deep mystery we would sound; But if desire within us be, Its outer fringe is all that we shall see. Under these two aspects it is really the same; But as development takes place, it receives the different names. Together we call them the Mystery. Where the Mystery is the deepest is the gate of all that is subtle and wonderful. 1.That great nature in which we rest, that Unity, that Over-Soul, Is an Immensity not possessed, and that cannot be possessed. The animal eye sees, with wonderful accuracy, sharp outlines and colored surfaces. To a more earnest vision, outlines and surfaces become transparent; Causes and spirits are seen through them. The wise silence, the universal beauty, To which every part and particle is equally related, Is the tide of being which floats us into the secret of nature; And we stand before the secret of the world. 2.All in the world know the beauty of the beautiful, And in doing this they have the idea of what ugliness is; They all know the skill of the skillful, And in doing this they have the idea of what the want of skill is. So it is that existence and non-existence give birth one to the other; Difficulty and ease produce each other; Length and shortness fashion out the figure of the other; Height and lowness arise from the contrast of the one with the other; Musical notes and tones become harmonious through the relation of one to the other; Being before and behind give the idea of one following another. Therefore the sage manages affairs without doing anything, and conveys his instructions without the use of speech. The work is done, but how no one can see; 'Tis this that makes the power not cease to be. 2.Each thing is a half, and suggests another thing to make it whole. As: spirit, matter; man, woman; odd, even; in, out; upper, under; motion, rest; yea, nay. All are needed by each one. Nothing is fair or good alone; To empty here, you must condense there. A great man is always willing to be little; The wise man throws himself on the side of his assailants; Postpones always the present hour to the whole life, Postpones talent to genius, and special results to character, Is very willing to lose particular powers and talents So that he gain in the elevation of his life. Action and inaction are alike to the true. 3.Not to employ men of superior ability is the way to keep the people from rivalry among themselves; Not to prize articles which are difficult to procure is the way to keep them from becoming thieves; Not to show them what is likely to excite their desires is the way to keep their minds from disorder. Therefore the sage, in the exercise of his government, empties their minds, fills their bellies, weakens their wills and strengthens their bones. He constantly tries to keep them without knowledge and without desire, And where there are those who have knowledge, to keep them from presuming to act on it. When there is this abstinence from action good order is universal. 3.Nothing is secure but life, transition, the energizing spirit. The one thing which we seek with insatiable desire Is to forget ourselves, to be surprised out of our propriety, To lose our sempiternal memory And do something without knowing how or why. No truth is so sublime but it may be trivial tomorrow. People wish to be settled; Only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them. The poor and the low have their way of expressing the last facts of philosophy: "Blessed be nothing. The worse things are the better they are." 4.The Tao is like the emptiness of aGrossman, Richard is the author of 'Tao of Emerson ', published 2007 under ISBN 9780679643395 and ISBN 0679643397.