“The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao. 
The name that can be named is not the eternal name. 
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth. 
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things. 
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery. 
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations. 
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; 
this appears as darkness. 
Darkness within darkness. 
The gate to all mystery.”

This opening of the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tsu changed my life. Gifted to me by my first Tai Chi teacher over 50 years ago when I was in my 20’s it was the first book I ever really read.

So simple, obvious and profound the truth passes most people by. They understand the words but don’t grasp the meaning. The ‘do’ at the end of ‘karatedo, judo, aikido’ and the meaning of tai chi and other martial arts refers the ‘way’ that is explained here. It refers to the infinite, unborn, immortal, unifying energy that we are all born out of and return to.

To understand this is to understand pantheism and dependent origination and means that you will treat everything and everyone in the universe with the same respect you have for yourself because you understand that they are you.

The most profound, life and mind changing enlightenment I ever had that altered the course of my life and understanding of the universe.