‘The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao…’

‘The tao that can be told
is not the eternal Tao
The name that can be named
is not the eternal Name
Naming is the origin of all particular things. Free from desire, you realize the mystery. Caught in desire, you see only the manifestations. Yet mystery and manifestations arise from the same source. This source is called darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gateway to all understanding.’ ✨
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I’ve been down for the count for the better part of the past week; my lungs got irritated from inhaling a huge cloud of dust (everyone’s been saying allergies are really bad too, but I was born and raised in the ATX, and historically they haven’t bothered me too much!), and I basically ended up coming down with bronchitis! 😫 I had almost completely lost my voice earlier I the week, and ended up teaching my Monday night class that I probably should have gotten subbed.. I just didn’t realize how bad it was until I actually started trying to project my voice that night!. 😶🤭 but thank goodness I was starting to feel a lot better today!
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Anyway, it’s been a great week for cleaning, and reading up on all my old and new favorites! The Tao Te Ching is without a doubt one of my all time favorites.. we live in a world full of paradoxes.. both sides of any given spectrum co-exist at all times.. our entire reality seems to be held together by the polarities of positive and negative forces. I always enjoyed the way it was written, a group of verses acknowledging both ends of the continuous paradox we call reality, without making any overly bold ‘factual’ statements or telling people ‘how to live’ or what to think.. more of an open ended dialogue on philosophical spirituality.. 🤔🤓😌
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wearing | @aloyoga ❤️
photo | @kungfunerd 📷