Number Fourteen: Before Time

14

limping along the trail
on a chilly morning
looking for what never dies


Lesson # 14

It was here
before there was anything to see,
before there was anything to hear,
before there was anything to touch,
only bright darkness,
formless form,
everywhere and imperceptible,
alive.

From: 81 Lessons from the Tao Te Ching

Number Fourteen: Before time

Look
The Tao cannot be seen
What came before
there were forms to be seen

Listen
The Tao cannot be heard
What came before
there were sounds to be heard

Touch
The Tao cannot be felt
What came before there were things to be touched

We have no name for this
this that has no surface
no underside.
this undetectable web that is above below within and outside of us
It stretches from before the beginning of time
to beyond the end of all universes

We struggle to imagine something that is outside of space time form or frequency
but something that is what everything arises from and returns into

You cannot know it
but stay open to it
and the present moment might just open out into infinity




NUMBER FOURTEEN

Looking at it, you do not see it, you call it Invisible.
Listening to it, you do not hear it, you call it Inaudible.
Touching it, you do not grasp it, you call it Intangible.
These three cannot be described, but they blend and are One.
Above, it is not bright;
Below, it is not dim;
Unceasingly, unceasingly,
It cannot be called by a Name,
It enters into Form, and returns into Spirit.
That is why it is called Spiritual Form of Form, Spiritual Image of Image.
That is why it is called vague and indeterminate.
Meet it, you cannot see its beginning;
Follow it, and you cannot see its end.
Consider the Tao of Old in order to arrange affairs of Now.
To be able to know the Life-Spring of Old is to give expression to the Thread of the Tao.


Isabella Mears, The Tao Teh King, A Tentative Translation from the Chinese, William McLellan, Glascow, 1916.

Number Fourteen (commentary) How is the Tao related to enlightenment?

Lao Tsu saw the Big Bang, everything that erupted from it and everything that will be there when time and space end. And he sensed what was there before all of that.
This which came before is so fundamental that it is formless, invisible, undetectable and nameless.
This which came before is the source of everything, everywhere, in all of time.
This is the source of you.

And there are moments.
sometimes in deep meditation,
sometimes just walking down a street or opening a gate,
when the present moment opens up into a vast, profound “is-ness”
and we get a hint of our source and true essence.
Let these moments change your life forever.

Tangent and Tool #14, A taste of enlightenment: A question and a reflection:” Have I had a spiritual experience?” Some of us have had experiences of being more than our usual selves, experiences like these:
– of having the boundaries of our awareness extend beyond our usual senses
– of encountering some presence that is unseen
– of feeling a deeper peace than we ever imagined was possible
– of no longer being trapped inside a personality or self-image
– of being pure presence, free from a specific location
– of a connection with all living beings so deep it takes our breath away
We can easily dismiss, forget, minimize, or even ridicule these experiences. The usual ‘who-we-take-ourselves-to-be’ does not want to face the idea that you may have no clue what might be possible to experience in this lifetime. As Hamlet said, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.” Yet, these experiences can become doorways into a deeper awareness of the Tao.