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Tao Te Ching · 21 of 81 · tr. James Legge

Chapter 21

The grandest forms of active force From Tao come, their only source. Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well. Eluding sight, eluding touch, The forms of things all in it crouch; Eluding touch, eluding sight, There are their semblances, all right. Profound it is, dark and obscure; Things' essences all there endure. Those essences the truth enfold Of what, when seen, shall then be told. Now it is so; 'twas so of old. Its name--what passes not away; So, in their beautiful array, Things form and never know decay. How know I that it is so with all the beauties of existing things? By this (nature of the Tao).
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The passage centrally describes the Tao by negation, stating it eludes sight and touch and is profound and obscure.

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Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The text emphasizes the radical concealment of the Tao's nature, describing it as dark, obscure, and beyond sensory perception.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] The Tao is described as having a name that passes not away, suggesting an undivided, eternal essence without composite attributes.

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Ein Softheology

The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold.

The description of the Tao as infinite, unknowable, and the hidden root of existence parallels the concept of Ein Sof.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] The speaker claims knowledge of the Tao's nature through direct experience ('By this') rather than external instruction.

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Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The Tao is presented as the single, undivided source from which all active forces and forms originate.

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Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The Tao transcends binary sensory categories like sight and touch, existing beyond such dualistic distinctions.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The text uses apparent contradictions, such as the Tao eluding senses yet containing the semblances of all things.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] The passage asserts that the essences of all things endure within the Tao, implying a fundamental non-dual reality.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1l
“Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our s…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 611
“Section 4 4. Then consider this god [in man] whom we cannot think to be absent at some point and present at another. All that have insight into the nature of the divine beings hold the omnipresence of this god and of all the gods, and reaso…”
Shared concept: Divine Simplicity — The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being. (derived)
western_esoteric|Psychic Self-Defence (Dion Fortune)|11. The Psychic Element In Mental Disturbance-d
“The older faiths knew this, but popular Christianity, which has no roots in tradition, has forgotten it. Protestant Christianity threw away its occult aspect at the Reformation. All the pagan pantheons have gross aspects of divinities as…”
Shared concept: Ein Sof — The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold. (derived)
jewish_mysticism|Sefer Yetzirah (The Book of Formation)|Section 1a
“Wescott, tr. (1887) CHAPTER 1 1. In two and thirty most occult and wonderful paths of wisdom did JAH the Lord of Hosts engrave his name: God of the armies of Israel, ever-living God, merciful and gracious, sublime, dwelling on high, who i…”
Shared concept: Ein Sof — The infinite, unknowable aspect of the divine prior to and beyond all emanation; the hidden root from which the Sephirot unfold. (derived)
neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter II
“The hostile opposition, therefore, in the things that are now proposed, may be easily dissolved by demonstrating the dignity of wholes with 226 respect to parts, and by recalling to your recollection the exempt transcendency of the Gods abo…”
Shared concept: Opposites Transcended — The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite)|Page 6 (part 1)
“PART I THE LITERATURE OF CEREMONIAL MAGIC Click to view THE SERPENT OF THE GARDEN OF THE HESPERIDES. From a Greek Vase Painting. CHAPTER I The antiquity of Magical Rituals § 1. The Importance of Ceremonial Magic THE ordinary fields of ps…”
Shared concept: Paradox As Teaching — Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight. (derived)