Becomes the valley of the world.
He has an eternal power which always suffices
and returns again to the natural integrity of uncarved wood.
Break up this uncarved wood
and it is shaped into vessel
In the hands of the Sage
they become the officials
and magistrates
Therefore the great ruler
does not cut up. (footnote 1)
(Relate this to Genesis 1:2 & 3 which states "And the Earth (female) was without form and void and darkness was upon the face of the deep (Tehom which is female). And God said, "let there be Light! (male) and God divided the light from the dark.")
This writing of Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching, speaks to the primary sin of Western Civilization. That sin (footnote 2) entails the cutting up of the world. We have cut it up into nations as we have divided people into classes and races. Our bodies are full of parts. But we don't get the whole. Our science is founded on a philosophy called reductionism, which is again a breaking down into parts. Similarly, our governments are filled with opposition, such as in the United States of Republicans and Democrats or Left and Right.
Opposites occur, otherwise how would anything be known. Without the left, how could right be known? Like the negative and positive pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, these are necessary to make a complete picture. Opposites are necessary for the functioning whole. There is no birth without death. No male without female. Nor is there any good without bad or form without formlessness.
It is unfortunate that female is associated with bad, which is oftentimes reflected in old tales regarding those that are left handed. Neurologically, the left hand is associated with the feminine right brain, which is more holistic/intuitive/feminine in orientation. Thus, not only are women suppressed, but the creative and intuitive thinker.
Taoists see opposites as aspects of the whole and not warring enemies. The valley (Female/Negative) is necessary to the mountain (Male/Positive). The one does not exist without the other. Similarly, space is necessary in defining the form of matter. How can we know our fingers without the space between them? Again, Yin and Yang interact in creation and define each other.
Being primarily Yang focused in western culture, we are highly materialistic or thing oriented (we are not spacious thus are oftentimes over crowded). We look at the fingers more so than the space between the fingers. In not seeing the space between the fingers, we tend to break the fingers up into parts and don't see the whole.
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