Tao

[Jim D.]

Can Tao be directly experienced? I have had times in my life where it seemed that I have. But it was fleeting...momentary. I was sitting in my back yard under a climbing rose bush. I was able to discard the rumminations that cluttered my head. Suddenly, life around me became absolutely clear...profound. I was able to stay within this affectual experience for a while. But then my ego got in the way and reminded me that life had its demands, and I must move on.

 

Tao seems to be present in the observable, like the Universe which expands. Stars are getting dimmer, while others are beginning. What I see in the night sky may have taken billions of light years to reach my retina. How would I know this?

 

Tao could be the "sweet spot" on a tennis racket, or baseball bat. It can be having a that pencil right there on your way down stairs to the laundry room. It can be the experience of redirecting incoming force with as little effort as you may think it will take. The ego sees it as a surprise. The spiritual self senses something transcended.

 

How is it that I do not seem to create and hang on to this all? How is it that there is a struggle to achieve peace in the face of choas?

 

JD

[vonkrankenhaus]

Re:

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"Can Tao be directly experienced?"

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Let's use as example, the tao (way) of driving home.

 

This means "how" (the way) to get home.

 

Can we directly experience that?

 

We may see road, trees, maybe buildings and signs.

 

None of these are the "way" home.

 

They are things encountered.

 

The way home is not a thing.

 

We cannot touch it or move it from one place to another.

 

We cannot see it in any real thing, like in a box, for example.

 

 

 

 

 

-VonKrankenhaus

[Marblehead]

Experienced?  Yes.

 

Defined?  No.

 

Speak of some of its attributes?  (As you did above.)  Yes.

[CloudHands]

This means "how" (the way) to get home.

 

Great answer.