Do not be too eager to judge, as judging is giving an answer and it stops the real answer from unfolding.
If Tao is hard to define, so are many things around you.
Why are you not as pretty? Why do you have to work doubly hard? Why can’t you be as rich as the neighbor across the street?
There are endless questions that require answers, but having no answers are often the answers.
This is natural. As Lao Tzu said, “The Tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao.” Since Tao is the underlying principles of all things, if it is hard to define, it is not surprising many things derived from it cannot be depicted with clarity.
But many of us refuse to accept the fact, and are too impatient to accept no answer as an answer.
What happens as a result?
We find an answer as we think fit.
Unfortunately, the real answer would not emerge simply because you have given an answer of convenience. So there is still no answer despite the answer we thought we have, and the insistence on an answer actually leads not to answer but to another round of futile quest for the answer.
What if you could simply be patient?
Do not be too eager to judge, as judging is giving an answer and it stops the real answer from unfolding. Rather, listen; listen quietly with you heart. Be patient; allow you mind to accept and receive.
Instead of insisting on having an answer, accept what is. Let the answer surface if it is there, and stay at peace if it is not.
Instead of insistence on an answer, relish the opportunity to see the mystery unfold. Even if there is no answer, you are more clairvoyant with your tolerance and willingness to understand. You are closer to the reality because of your readiness to stay down-to-earth.
You run deep, and you are yourself a mystery.
Freed from desire, you can see the hidden mystery.
By having desire, you can only see what is visibly real.Yet mystery and reality
emerge from the same source.
This source is called darkness.Darkness born from darkness.
The beginning of all understanding.Lao Tzu Tao Te Ching Chapter 1
Thanks to Olga Berrios for the picture.
“Instead of insistence on an answer, relish the opportunity to see the mystery unfold.” Thank you for this simple, but elegant description of Chapter 1.