Tao te Ching Chaper 51

For the sake of discussion "the Tao" represents god or deity.

Quote :

51
translation by, S. Mitchell
Every being in the universe
is an expression of the Tao.
It springs into existence,
unconscious, perfect, free,
takes on a physical body,
lets circumstances complete it.
That is why every being
spontaneously honors the Tao.

The Tao gives birth to all beings,
nourishes them, maintains them,
cares for them, comforts them, protects them,
takes them back to itself,
creating without possessing,
acting without expecting,
guiding without interfering.
That is why love of the Tao
is in the very nature of things.

Any thoughts?

I've been thinking alot lately about the continuum between potentiality and manifestation. All of the universe is a flux state with individual threads moving out away from the formless potential energy out into solidity, losing energy as they go, until finally they collapse back into formlessness like a solar flare. (Actually that image doesn't quite capture it...hmm)

This "Formless Ground" is found in many schools of religious thought, but is it equivalent with Tao? This passage makes me think not. The Tao is the ground and the flower, the potential and the manifestation, at least pandeistic and perhaps as much as panentheistic.

Our world of manifestation seems to have a drive toward increasing complexity and diversity (and perhaps beauty???), but all things are manifestations of the same ground, whether you call it primordial Big Bang soup (i guess it would just be broth, being homogenous), or God, or Tao. I think Big Bang Broth is just the least personal and most mechanistic ideations of this ground, God quite personal, and Tao somewhere in between. It seems fitting this would jive with a Deist outlook.

Negoba wrote:

This "Formless Ground" is found in many schools of religious thought, but is it equivalent with Tao? This passage makes me think not. The Tao is the ground and the flower, the potential and the manifestation, at least pandeistic and perhaps as much as panentheistic.

Yes, good observation.

I would argue that the Tao is most definitely more panendeistic than pandeistic however. The Taoist conception of "Wuji" seems to be their version of "the ground of being" while "Taiji" seems to be their version of the beginning of manifestation as in "the One". I would argue that "Taiji" represents the god of Pandeism and "the Tao", which includes Wuji, Taiji, and the 10,0000 is representative of Panendeism.