May 25th

Views


Red sea through pine lattice.
Islands kneel like vassals before headlands.
Rain clouds snag on coastal ridges.
Yarrow stands spectral in the lighthouse beam.

It is difficult to take in the details of a landscape all at once. Our eyes can only focus on one point at a time. We look near, then we look far. We look left, then we look right. Our view of any one subject, if it is large, is never whole but is a composite image in our minds. The same is true in regard to our approach to Tao.Tao is continuous, flowing, and changing, but there is no knowing it in a single view. We rely on composite images that we form in ourselves. For a beginner, glimpses of Tao will be random and fleeting. You will stumble on it from time to time, or you will see it in the brief spaces between events. For the mature practitioner, your composite view comes from training, technique, research, and the experience of self-cultivation. But even after years, it is impossible to take in the totality.
There is a way to know Tao directly and completely. It requires the awakening of one's spiritual force. When this happens, spirituality manifests as a brilliant light. Your mind expands into a glowing presence. Like a lighthouse, this beacon of energy becomes illumination and eye at the same time. Significantly, however, what it shows, it also knows directly. It is the light that sees.

Personal Interpretation


 Our human eyes can only take in a limited amount of information at any given time. We must look in different directions in order to capture a whole landscape. Do we think Tao is any different? In the beginning, we must see it in bursts, in the spaces between events. With the cultivation of our spiritual selves however, we are capable of gaining ability that far surpasses our present capabilities. In order to really see Tao, to experience it fully, and directly, we must awaken the spiritual forces that dwells within each of us. The energy that is released from this experience will act as eye and illumination at the same time. We see what is, but we are also a vital part of it, a conduit for Tao.