Verse #28: The Uncarved Block - The Nature and Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching (2024)

The Nature and Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching: Verse #28 - The Uncarved Block
(attributed to Lao Tzu, circa 500 bce)
Original Interpretation, Written and Produced by Dana C. White, PhD
Reading by Jonathan Staggers
First Recorded and Produced in November, 2020
Re-engineered in March, 2024.
The script for this and the other 80 Tao Te Ching verses synthesize numerous translations - including the interpretations of Thomas Cleary, Giu-Fu Feng and Jane English, Ursula LeGuin, John Minford, Stephen Mitchell, Jonathan Star, and Richard Wilhelm. By comparing and contrasting the works and styles of these scholars, I hope the original intent of each verse comes through. From one verse to the next, people experiencing the Tao can observe common themes or tropes that apply to a particular verse. Thus, it is hoped you will appreciate how each verse, or chapter, of these new productions retains the character of the ancient text, while being interpreted with contemporary sensibilities. Each chapter of these new productions has been developed to retain the character of the ancient text, while being interpreted with contemporary sensibilities. Each verse, then becomes a guided meditation into the essence of existence.
Originally Produced in November, 2020
28 - The Uncarved Block
Stream existence through every part of your being!
The uncarved block is whole, undivided, a shapeless form.
Emerge into yourself, befriend your complementary natures.
Honor both the female and male inhabiting you -
invite the fullness of the Tao.
White and black, dark, light, soft, hard, enlighten and shadow
as you form patterns in your unblemished nature
with your seeming opposites. Embrace paradox.
Know your patterns and there is nothing you cannot do.
Honor who you are yet beat a path toward indifference.
Be like the Tao and accept the ten thousand things as they are.
If you and existence inhabit one another, your authentic self will emerge,
carrying you to the source of your first breath,
To the first moments of unlimited potential when as the uncarved block,
All life spread out before you - before any bias,
Awaiting the Tao to carve its imprint into your soul.
From nothing, the Tao authors all being.
The sage knows that both her tools and the materials of her existence
Were born of the same mother.
She does not confuse her imagination with the mystery of the Tao
that holds everything in place with the character of change
and asks you to trust.
At birth, wholes fall into fragments and people scramble through life,
Trading one arrangement for another.
People become prized through the utility of being carved.
Rulers and leaders move pawns according to their value.
The sage recaptures her original wholeness through the Tao,
Letting the pieces fall wherever they may -
Mindful that like smoke in the atmosphere,
They are little more than distractions
To descending into the complete originality of her being.
The uncarved block is eternally complete and receptive.
The challenge for the sage is to inhabit flow in the quest for harmony.
Like water, the Tao is clear, honest and authentic.