Tao Te Ching, Verse 25

Naming the Nameless

What preceded life?
The earth.
What preceded the earth?
The universe.
What preceded the universe?
The soundless and shapeless
Origins of origins,
Ever transforming
And having no beginning nor end.

This mother of the universe
Is boundless, and nameless
But if we wanted to share with you
Anything about this remarkable
Non-executing executor
We must invent a name for it.

We will call it the Tao
Because Tao means great
Incredibly great
Because it occupies infinite space,
Being fully present in the whole universe,
And in every infinitesimal particle.

Because this Great Integrity
Created the universe,
And the universe created the earth,
And earth created us,
We are all incredibly great.

Life derives
From the nature of the earth.
The earth derives
From the nature of the universe.
The Universe derives
From the nature of the Great Integrity.
And the Great Integrity
Is the omnipresent, omnigenous omniform,
The universal material
And spiritual substance,
The holoversal interlinkage
And coition if existence.

Verse 25
Photo; Canis Eye Nebula