《道德經》 Tao Te Ching: 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 Tao is both named and nameless.

As nameless it is the origin of all things;

as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things.

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;

ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway

to all understanding.

第一章

道可道，非常道，名可名，非常名。無名，天地之始，有名，萬物之母。故常無欲以觀其妙，常有欲以觀其徼，此兩者同出而異名，同謂之玄，玄之又玄，眾妙之門。

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The Tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named
is not the eternal name.

Tao is the unknowable and unseeable essence of everything there is. Since Tao is within everything, anything you say about Tao would be differentiating Tao from everything else and thus “not the eternal Tao.” All labels and names are not timelessly true as the coffee mug on your table wasn’t a coffee mug in the past nor will it be in the future (it was stardust in the past and it will eventually turn to dust in the future).

The Tao is both named and nameless.

This sounds paradoxical and it is! We often view opposites as incompatible concepts that contradict each other. And right off the bat Laozi tells us that the world is paradoxical. All atoms need protons (positive charge) and electrons (negative charge).  The earth's magnetic field is formed by the North Magnetic Pole and South Magnetic Pole. When you push something, you are also getting pushed (Newton's laws of motion). Quantum physics tells us that all matter exhibits both wave and particle properties (wave–particle duality). All things exist with their counterparts, cause and effect, hot and cold, up and down, birth and death, fast and slow, pleasure and suffering, beginning and end, black and white, right and wrong, positive and negative, yin and yang. Anything in between is just a mix of the two opposites; that’s how our physical world works. It’s a necessity rather than a contradiction. Every coin has two faces. 

As nameless it is the origin of all things;

as named it is the Mother of 10,000 things.

This reminds me one of the big philosophical problems, the representational realism. Simply put, when you see a candle in front of you, you can only see it as much as your eyes allow you to. So what you are actually seeing is not the candle itself but a representation of it. You have no idea what the real candle is like as you are only aware of your perceptions. Maybe the real candle is completely different from what you see; maybe you are dreaming; maybe you're in the matrix.  You don’t know.

Laozi tells us that the true candle (represented by [?] above) is the Lao (unknowable and unseeable; a mystery), and it's the origin of all things. It’s nameless because we have no idea it's like and it’s “of all things” because of the infinite possibilities of what the it could become. The "named" are things in the observable universe that we have given names to according to the perceptions we experience. “10,000 things” accounts for all physical and observable things, a lot but limited.  For modern age example, let us contemplate the concept of dark matter, a type of matter that is unperceivable and undeletable but yet its existence is widely believed by scientists. we know nothing about it except the hypothesis that it somehow exists; some call it a “ghostly matter” (also see antimatter). The highly popular M-theory suggests that we might have as many as 11 dimensions. What the higher dimensions account for, we don’t know. You can consider all these mysteries as part of the mysterious [?].

Ever desireless, one can see the mystery;

ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway

to all understanding.

Laozi tells us that with desire, we only see the manifestations; in order to see the mysterious [?] itself, we need to not try to see it in any way. What the hell is he talking about now? How can we see or do anything without having desire to do so? You may not have noticed it, but Laozi is teaching us an extremely important lesson about desiring (wanting) and desireless (allowing).

2011 is coming and that means it's time to write our new year's resolutions.  But how many times have we actually been able to keep our commitments?  How many times have we been able to save more money, do more exercise, get rid of bad habits like quitting smoke/alcohol, or whatever it is that we desperately wanted to do?  The answer: few and far between.

Desiring and desireless are two faces of the same coin.  Desiring is what creates a job and desireless is what finishes it.  The problem is not on our desiring (wanting) part of it, but it's on our lack of desireless (allowing) end of it.  What the hell am I talking about?  Well.  Have you ever TRIED to get out of bed, but couldn't?  Have you ever TRIED to save money, but couldn't?  You want something so bad and you try and try and yet you fail.  Why?  Because: You are trying too hard.

When you are actually doing something, allowing it to unfold is ultimately what happens; much like allowing a plant to grow.  Have you ever tried to eat while you were hungry?  Tried to sleep when you were dead tired?  No, you didn't even have to try.  Actually, it's better NOT to try.  When you send the message of "I want this" to your body, your body responds the message with tension, and then your mind would rationalize the tension by finding an excuse not to do it.  Just like when your parents tell you to do something; the more they tell you, the more you don't want to do it regardless of what they tell you to do.  It's physics!  The more you push the box, the more the box pushes you (Newton's laws of motion).  Therefore, the more you force/will your body to do something, the more your body resists.  We see it time to time from athletes or martial artists, who need to engage in extreme physical activities, to become calm and collective before performing.

If you ask them what were they thinking at those moments, they would tell you: "nothing".  They were not thinking about their desire to win or to perform well but simply to relax and allow their bodies to do their thing.  You may also have experienced this sensation when you concentrate on your work deeply.  Recall those moments and you would realize you were not thinking much of anything at all!  The point here is to recognize the difference in your body between trying and allowing, and to then become aware of the effortless sensation of the latter.

Here are the lessons I learned from the 1st Verse:

Enjoy the mystery.

Let the world unfold without always attempting to figure it all out.  Do your part and let the rest figures itself out.  Don't always toil at trying to understand your mate, your children, your parents, your boss, or anyone else.  Since you would only see their surfaces and appearance.  However, by being an astute observer  .  .  .  judge less and listen more, you would truly understand whatever that you were trying so hard to comprehend.  Take time to open your mind to the fascinating mystery and uncertainty that we all experience.

Relax, let go and allow.

Instead of forcing the body to act, let go of the thought of desiring and *allow* the body to take its course.  As you find yourself struggling to act, change your state of mind from *wanting* it to *allowing* it.  Relax, let go of the desiring thoughts and allow your body to do it.  You may realize some physical tension or unsettling thoughts.  Allow them to unfold and give them nonjudgmental attention.  Accept whatever comes.  Encounter the mystery within without labeling, explaining, or defending.  As you practice more, you will find yourself acting naturally and smoothly rather than struggling to get things done.

Sources:
Change Your Thoughts - Change Your Life: Living the Wisdom of the Tao
老子-道德經 (註解版)