I recently decided to re-immerse myself in the Tao Te Ching, one of the oldest books still in existence - and certainly one of the wisest and most profound. It presents an approach to life which is almost quite alien to our materialistic, consumer-driven modern society, but which I feel is more important than ever and is a way of reconnecting us to a more natural, balanced and peaceful mode of living and experiencing life.
I have at least four different translations of the Tao Te Ching and what I have done is mix and match from each, to re-create each verse in the manner which I feel best reflects the message imparted by Lao Tzu. I have mainly based it upon the translations/versions of Stephen Mitchell, John H McDonald and Jonathan Star.
I also decided to offer up a couple of paragraphs for each entry sharing my own experiences and intuitive understandings as to what the words (which are often enigmatic, cryptic and sometimes paradoxical) are pointing to. I simply open myself to whatever words come to mind. My comments may or may not fit in with the 'conventional' understandings of whichever verse, but I nevertheless endeavour to share what is true from my experience.
I hope you enjoy this blog, which will eventually include all 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching in what may or may not be a daily basis (I'll aim for daily, and I'll see how I get on!) Please feel free to share your own comments as to what each verse means to you and how you interpret the timeless wisdom of Lao Tzu.
(Edit: Over two years have passed since I initially created this blog, and although I completed all 81 verses, I have since gone back and have been editing and often re-writing my blog entries. Sometimes it's just polishing up sentence structure, and other times I've felt the need to re-evaluate my original comments. But I am now going to delete the original posts and begin again. I apologise that any original comments posted will be lost, but I am happier with these new entries, hence the need for a 'reset.' Hope you enjoy. Rory)
(Edit: Over two years have passed since I initially created this blog, and although I completed all 81 verses, I have since gone back and have been editing and often re-writing my blog entries. Sometimes it's just polishing up sentence structure, and other times I've felt the need to re-evaluate my original comments. But I am now going to delete the original posts and begin again. I apologise that any original comments posted will be lost, but I am happier with these new entries, hence the need for a 'reset.' Hope you enjoy. Rory)
