4        The hidden cause

The Way is empty, yet inexhaustible, like an abyss!

It seems to be the origin of all things.

It dulls the sharpness, unties the knots, dims the light, becomes one with the dust.

Deeply hidden, as if it only might exist.

I don’t know whose child it is.

It seems to precede the ancestor of all.

The hidden cause

Lao Tzu returns here to the mysterious nature of Tao, the Way. It is so vague and distant that we can only guess its existence, by deductions we make from the world that we see before us. It is the inner working of the universe, and probably therefore also the originator of it. The natural law by which the universe works.

            A natural law has no form of its own, but governs all there is, and never gets fatigued or diminished. Although it causes all the magnificence of the world we live in, it is infinitesimal, like the dust of the dust.

            This law that governs all can have no preferences. It treats the biggest things the same as the smallest, none with less care. Since everything in the world consists of things small, that is closer to the nature of Tao. And since most things in the world go by unnoticed, that is also closer to the nature of Tao. Because Lao Tzu sees the Way as the reason behind all, he concludes that it must have the most to do with the things that we regard as lesser. The big events are rare, while everyday proceedings take place constantly. And the bigger size things have, the fewer they are, so the Way deals mainly with the small.

            We should understand this, so that we remember to pay the most attention to the least things. The most enduring powers in the world are those that stand out the least. Sharpness does not remain, nor does the tightness of a knot or the brightest light. There is nothing that lasts as long as its own dust. So, if we become like dust, we will prevail – and we will be in unison with the Way.

            The last line of this chapter is the only clear occurrence of a divine entity in the Tao Te Ching. What I have translated as the ancestor of all is Ti, who was the first and supreme god in ancient Chinese mythology.

            Although Ti was indeed regarded as a creator god, Lao Tzu doubts that he predates Tao. Even a creator god must obey the natural laws by which the universe is ruled, or it would not have come into existence. Also, since a natural law does not exist by itself, but through nature, it has no birth date. There may be a starting point for its manifestation, but the law itself is timeless. If a world appears, it has to follow the law for such a world, but the law does not change if the world appears or disappears. It remains the same forever and anywhere. So it is eternal and ever-present. Even before the gods, and where they are not.

            There can be a universe without any gods to rule it, but not one without laws for it.

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