But if you conceal the whole universe in the whole universe, there will be no place left wherein it may be lost. The laws of matter make this to be so.
To have attained to the human form must be always a source of joy. And then, to undergo countless transitions, with only the infinite to look forward to,—what incomparable bliss is that! Therefore it is that the truly wise rejoice in that which can never be lost, but endures alway.
The soul which as Tao, is commensurate only with time and space.
For if we can accept early death, old age, a beginning, and an end,
As inseparable from Destiny,—already a step in the right direction.
why not that which informs all creation and is of all phenomena the Ultimate Cause?
The long chain of proximate causes reaches finality in Tao. Here we have the complete answer to such queries as that propounded to the Umbra by the Penumbra at the close of [ch. ii].
Tao has its laws, and its evidences. It is devoid both of action and of form. It may be transmitted, but cannot be received.
So that the receiver can say he has it.
It may be obtained, but cannot be seen. Before heaven and earth were, Tao was. It has existed without change from all time. Spiritual beings drew their spirituality therefrom, while the universe became what we can see it now. To Tao, the zenith is not high, nor the nadir low; no point in time is long ago, nor by lapse of ages has it grown old.