This is a reading from Stephen Mitchell's Translation of the Tao-Te-Ching.
I consider myself a student of many paths of awakening.
This book has been in my library for many years and just recently it has called me to explore.
My plan is to explore this famous and enlightening text with you.
Bare with me as we read and comment together.
Consider yourself invited, please commit.
Chapter 1
The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name.
The unnamable is the eternally real.
Naming is the origin
of all particular things.
Free from desire, you realize the mystery.
Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations.
Yet mystery and manifestations
arise from the same source.
This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.
