Verse 35

35.

All come to she

who keeps to the one.

She who stays centred in the Tao

can go where she wishes, without danger.

She perceives the universal harmony,

even amid great pain,

because she has found peace in her heart.

Music and dining are passing pleasures,

that may make people stop and enjoy.

But words spoken of the Tao

seem to them boring and stale.

When you look for it, there is nothing to see.

When you listen for it, there is nothing to hear.

Yet when you use it, it is inexhaustible.

The majority of people are trapped on the level of form and sense perception, which is a superficial mode of relating to life. Many seek only tangible sensory pleasures and when encountering words of truth that point to the underlying root of creation, they are likely to be disinterested or to find such talk nonsensical and boring.

This, however, is their great loss. Because, as one translation of this verse exclaims: “How bland and insipid are the things of this world when one compares them to the Tao!”

There may be nothing to see and nothing to hear, but the Tao and its application is inexhaustible, for it is the essence from which all life is derived. It is the very paper upon which the pages of the book of life are scribed. Without them, there would be nothing.

It is said that “she who follows the way of the Tao will draw the world to her steps”. For such a person has found peace and tranquility in her heart, a radiant quality that tends to draw people of good virtue and repel those that lack integrity.

When we have found peace within ourselves, in spite of whatever might be happening in the outer world or that which we call “our lives”, we reach a state of integrity and authenticity, that’s more precious than anything in this world.