great works ii – 2850 jta 12:25-2:05: love letters from the world

A major theme that seems to be emerging in the poem, Four, is the idea that Tao is something extremely vast and great. “The Tao is an empty vessel; it is used, but never filled.” Tao is something that can neither be explained nor is it within reason or understanding. It provides knowledge  and is perhaps so great that no one human being could possibly ever add to it something Tao does not already know. The latter statement is further proven in the line, “Oh, unfathomable source of ten thousand things!” Tao is simply brimming with so much wisdom to learn from, as a people. It is a philosophy that helps us to “untangle the knot”. And it is not necessarily something one can see or feel— “Oh, hidden deep but ever present!” Instead, Tao is a way of life; something not to be understood but instead to be lived and imbedded within us.