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: Why is the Tao that can be spoken not the same as : the real Tao? I wonder why Lao Tzu began the Tao : Te Ching with this line. It has the obvious note : of a disclaimer, and so what is there from this : angle to be read? I suppose he goes on to tell : anyone who'll listen a bunch of truths he's : chanced upon in his wonderings. But before he : launches in he...what?...warns the reader that he : or she might not understand precisely what all : those truths, written in exquisite detail actually : mean? I wonder who exactly he imagines picking : up his book, cracking it open, reading. Does he : fear that one of the people he refers to as those : who will laugh when they hear of the Tao...that : one of these people will pick up the book. He : tells that person that that what he or she is : about to read isn't what Lao Tzu had in mind. And : so he begins with a categorization of people. The : Tao that can be spoken is not the same as the real : Tao...Not necessarely, eh? Is there anything in : this introduction for the superior person, who : reads about the Tao and immediately begins to : practice it...is there anything for this person : in this introduction, is what I'm saying, beside : a warning to be careful what you say to the lesser : people, lest they misinterpret it, and then you : don't feel quite so superior anymore? A girl at : my lunch table was talking about her Thanksgiving : break in L.A. where she got to run with a bunch : of movie stars for a little while. For her it was : a trip to, you know, Mecca, this trip to glamorous : L.A. In this vision of traveling through Los : Angeles she had found a proper allegory for her : life here on Earth. She could feel her bones : breathing, and all. I doubt she's read the Tao, : but after listening to her talk I see that no one : can surp her now for knowledge of the great : Mystery. Yet, what would Lao Tzu intercede at : this moment. Would he not say, yes, she has done : these things you say, but she has now named her : paradise, and she will now burn by it? Mustn't : Lao Tzu make a similar disclaimer at the start of : his book? He writes about "embodying the light" : and other such things, the formost probably being: : "I am like an idiot." Must he not, before writing : about the most wonderful things he has ever : experienced, which he feels anyone could ever : experience, mustn't he begin by saying, "These : things exist in a void which gives them value," : only to prevent himself from burning by the things : about which he is about to write?

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