Dao
Dao
The Chinese conception of the universe is derived from the philosophy of the Dao. The ancient sage Lao Zi wrote one of the world’s most important and influential books on the Dao: the “Dao De Jing”. The first line says 道可道，非常道，名可名，非常名。 Dao ke Dao, fei chang Dao, ming ke ming, fei chang ming. “The Dao could possibly be the Dao, but often is not the Dao. The name can be the name, but it is often not the name.” The Dao contains everything that is, and everything that isn’t. Existence and non-existence are all bound up into one: the Dao— and there is only one Dao. Because the Dao cannot be divided, one cannot speak of one thing excluding others and call it the “Dao”.
Scientists believe that the universe we live in started with the Big Bang. It is a theory because we can only hypothesize about how the universe began. Astronomers say that there are more stars than grains of sand on Earth. This is just an estimate, but we can not know for sure because even with telescopes and computers; there is still a concept of ‘seeable’ or observable universe. If this doesn’t stretch your imagination of the size, I am not sure what will!
On the level of the atoms in physics, there is more space between objects than actual object. Looking at an atom, there is the protons and electrons which are traveling around a center, so there is space for them to travel. Between two atoms, there is a magnetic force preventing them from actually touching. Up close, this is what the water molecule looks like: At a distance this is what water looks like , it appears that things touch, but there is a lot of empty space. To see something up close is important, but we must realize that the big picture is how we use it. (We drink water, not H2O).
Since there is a concept of existence, there is also an idea of its opposite; non-existence or nothingness. ‘Nothingness’ is like the bottomless pit, and existence is what makes the form of the pit. It is the thing that always gets deeper and darker with mystery. (The further down the pit we go, the more we understand, and the more we forget of the old. There is just too much!) Lao Zi describes the Dao as an endless canyon that has no bottom. Because of this complexity, one can not put a name to what exists in everything and exists in nothing.
Something and nothing is a co-existence. Imagine all the things that used to “not exist” simply because we still had not yet discovered them. Scientists have come to understand or believe that the universe is getting larger, or constantly expanding. They also understand that 95% of the universe in which we live is a thing they call ‘dark matter’. They know it exists, but do not understand it yet. With this in mind, we can begin to understand that the Dao also include things outside of our realm of life.
“Everything” are those things we can and will identify: the finite. And then there is the opposite: everything we will never be able to identify or understand: the infinite. This nothingness allows tangible things to exist. ‘Nothingness’ is beyond our present understanding and we cannot even name it. Knowing and remembering this idea will help us better understand the things that do exist because knowing that ‘nothing’ exists we will always try to discover what else possibly exists. We will never stop the desire for learning more. It is human nature, so follow the ‘way’ for us to be.