Taoism explored through contradiction is not yet Taoism. The Tao never contradicts

Well, I could add another verse to my ode above: When true beauty is seen, it is neither beautiful nor ugly. The long and the short of anything are not lost to its form. True sharpness never gets closer to sharpness than bluntness does. You cannot follow what is being not followed by anything else. In the imageless realms, there is only the imaged images.

@innertalks I may add - God and humans are interdependent. Without us god is not there and we are not there without god - siva

@Shiva49 That's right.

Yes, it's profound to me too.. I was just having a bit of fun here at Lao Tzu's expense, writing my own version of his great book the Tao Te Ching.

@Behindtheguitarbar Anyone is free to read any book these days, and to have a go at writing in this fashion. It is a bit like writing poetry, which I also like to write. I wanted to try my hand at writing in this way, as a sort of a spoof, and for a bit of fun. Nobody can say that his writing is better than mine, or mine better than his. Writing is just writing. It is subjective. His book is a long one. Mine is just a small attempt at writing in his style. No slight was meant against this great writer.

@innertalks Well, it seems a lot for you to write your own version of Tao Te Ching. In my opinion, one should be get the historical background knowledge to read this book, for it has a profound influence on traditional philosophy, science, politics, religion and so on.

thanks siva. I was trying to make a point here that even though one side might overcome another side, like "Gentleness overcomes hardness", in this world, both sides only exist for each other, and so the "idea" of anything overcoming anything else, is a sidestepping from truth, even if it sounds clever, because of the contradictory nature of its sounding, and of its reflecting back to us, how duality works in this World.

@Shiva49 The duality makes for a better world I guess, in that it allows shades of oneness to show us more of its real underlying picture of itself.

@innertalks We have to accept the duality that is omnipresent in creation. Without that we will have little choice and variety - freedom to choose all the way is a great blessing. We should balance not venturing far too much towards one way. Now we are well stocked with weapons that can destroy us but then we have to see to it that they are not for use; we should never get tempted or be foolish enough to get carried away - siva