Chapter 4 of the Tao Te Ching - Simplicity

“I have returned,” he said.

“From where?” I asked.

“Um, nowhere, really.”

I smiled. “Nice place,” I said. “I have a summer home there that I visit often.”
I think he is starting to get used to me saying things that he doesn’t understand.

“You told me return to you after I have found out what it is that I truly seek.”

“Did I?” I asked.

“Yes, you did.”

“And did you find your answer?”

“I did,” he said. “And more.”

“What else did you find?”

“I think,” he said, “that I now understand the Tao.”

“That is very good” I said. “It will help you greatly in your life.”

I could see that he was not happy with the way the conversation was going. I suspected that he was really hoping to tell me what he had found so that I could tell him if he was right or not.

“So,” I asked him, “how did you come to understand the Tao.”

He smiled at me. “I made things as simple as I could. I tried to understand what the Tao was instead of making it something that I could understand.”

“That was a very wise start,” I said. “How did you accomplish that?”

“It is hard to explain what I did in English and I don’t know any other languages.”

“Try the language of metaphor,” I suggested.

He thought very hard for several moments. “Ok,” he began, “I blunted the sharpness, untangled the knot, softened the glare and became one with the dust.”

“Excellent,” I said. “I understood that completely. Now, what did you find when you became one with the dust?”

“I found the Tao,’ he said. “It is a vessel that everything springs forth from. It is endless and can never be filled. I don’t know where it came from. I don’t think anyone does. But there is one thing that I am certain of.”

“What is that?” I asked.

“It was here long before any of the gods were here.”

“You have taken a long journey in your first step,” I said to him. “But be comforted in the knowledge that the first step is always the hardest. You truly understand the Tao. The question now is, what are you going to do with it?”