Verse 40     Return to the Root

The motion of Dao is to return
The use of the Dao is to accept
All things are born of being
Being is born of nothing

Returning is the theme of many of the verses in the Daodejing. Returning to what? Translators have use words like returning to nothingness, to the source or the origin, to simplicity, to infancy, to the infinite, and to the natural. Verse 16 speaks of returning to the root. What and where is the root? Let's be very specific and physical. We are talking about a real place. The root of existence is a real place, and you can point to it with your finger. Point to the place where others see your face. What do you see in that place? Do you see nothing at all? Your own open faceless nothingness is the root of your being. The motion of the Dao is to return to this root, this inner open simplicity. The use of returning to this inner Dao is to accept. Can you see that you are built for accepting all that appears in this root, this empty awareness at the center of your being? This is returning to the root.

Imagine a tree whose root is hidden from public view. The tree itself is certainly identified with its root. The root, nourishes, supports, anchors and centers the tree. The root is the tree's inner nature. It is the same with us humans. We too have an inner nature that is hidden from public view. Our public view is how we look to others, and how we appear in a mirror or a photograph. But how to we appear to ourselves? But we each have a root, and that root isn't visible to others. Others see our face. We see no such thing. In place of a face, we see the wide open window that is in receipt the world, the ten thousand things. Our private identity is capacity for the world, including all our thoughts and feelings about the world. These are not seen or sensed by anyone but us.