24 Jun 2010 @ 15:26
DIVERSITY
Gods have many faces,
But true divinity has no face.
There are so many gods in the world. Taoists have their pantheon.
The Buddhists, Hindus, and other religions have theirs. The Islamic and
Judeo-Christian schools may be monotheistic, but their sects differ
vastly from one another. Those who follow Tao assert that each of us
sees the divine in our own way. Is there one god, or many?
Among those who follow Tao, there are those who say that if there
are gods, then everyone is a god. You are god. There is nothing in the
sky, and no one lives your life but you. Whatever one believes in terms
of deities is fine. It's all individual preference, and it ultimately
means self-awareness. But there is something beyond the diversity of
gods, and that is the absolute.
That which is absolute is formless. Thus Tao is nameless and
faceless. We cannot consider Tao our god. That would be to give it form
and therefore bring it back into the world where the myriad things have
names. We use the word Tao for convenience only, but in fact, we are
referring to a deep mystery. As long as we live in the world of
diversity, whether it is the frantic pace of our professional lives or
the involvement with all the gods of the world, we will not be with Tao.
It is only when we leave the diversity of existence and find the
formless absolute that we reach Tao.
365 Tao: Daily Meditations
Deng Ming-Dao
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