The painting is by Cynthia Bux, Mooroopna, Victoria. It represents the coming together of groups of people at a waterhole. Each of the images is representative of a group of people from different parts of the Australian continent. The eggs of each group represent the birth and growth of knowledge which is shared when people come together.
__________
Rain dripping from eaves
sounds nature’s poetry.
We speak and write to
Explain ourselves.
Knowledge of Tao lodges in the same part of the mind as poetry. That is why the ancients expressed themselves in verse: There is the same quick perception.
When we are in touch with Tao, it is not our academic learning that is speaking, but the spirit of Tao itself. The old texts are very specific about this. That is why there is such a vast difference between the words of scholars and the words of a practitioner, just as the words of academics differ from the words of poets.
At the elementary stages of study, we need to articulate our experiences and let Tao flow through us. Followers of Tao frequently use writing, art, and even poetry as tools for self-discovery. By articulating their experiences, it helps them to understand the stages they are going through. Once they can do this, it satisfies and neutralizes their rational minds. The process clears away intellectualism and leaves the true Tao, which is not subject to words or images.
articulation
n 1: bringing articulatory organs together so as to shape the
sounds of speech
2: the shape or manner in which things come together and a
connection is made [syn: join, joint, juncture, junction]
3: expressing in coherent verbal form; “the articulation of my
feelings” or “I gave voice to my feelings” [syn: voice]
4: (anatomy) the point of connection between two bones or
elements of a skeleton (especially if the articulation
allows motion) [syn: joint, articulatio]
5: the act of joining things in such a way that motion is
possible
I particularly like #5, joining things in such a way that motion is possible… that is how I think about Tao. Tao shapes things so they can come together in ways that make movement, or change, possible. Tao is the force of change, we are the point of connection. Tao brings us together and we communicate with each other to shape our world and create changes in it.
I love the image I found for this posting – it just speaks Tao to me…
I’ll be off for a few days to help my sister-in-law and her husband in their move to Tucson. San Diego has become too expensive for them, so they sold their house here and are buying one in Tucson today.
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