February 25, 1977
Today,
I began reading the Tao Teh Ching, by Lao Tzu.
This being the founding canon of Taoism, Raminothna paid special
attention.
The
opening line reads, “The Tao that can be spoken is not the true and eternal
Tao.”
“Hmm,”
said Raminothna.
On
Page 2, there is a passage that says, “In the Cosmos, the Way of Man accords
to the Way of the Earth, which accords to the Way of the Sky, which accords to
the Way of the Cosmos – the Tao – and the Tao simply is, according to its own
Nature.”
“This
is memorable, Raminothna, don’t you think?”
“Yes
and no,” Raminothna said.
“What
is yes?”
“The
second quote.”
“And
the no is the first quote? Why?”
“First,
tell me what the second quote means to you.”
“It
means two things to me. One, that Man
should accord his way to that of the Earth.
Currently, we are working mostly against it. Two, that if we know what the Tao itself is, we will know what
the optimal Way of Man is. It seems to
me that this Tao is the very medicine needed to heal our ailing Earth with.”
“It is also
the way to win in Cosmic Chess.”
“Oh, yeah. Cosmic
Chess.”
“Now then, tell me what you think now of the
first quote.”
“Yes,
I see what you mean. It does put a stop
to number two, doesn’t it? In fact,
I’ve heard a Taoistic master say that ‘If one asks about the nature of the Tao
and another answers, neither know it.’”
“And so,
they maintained twenty-six centuries of silence, as if they knew it?”
“That’s
a cutting way of putting it, Raminothna.”
“I
grant respect only when due. I do grant
them, however, that they discovered the existence of the Tao, which most other
cultures did not even seem to have done.”
“So, you don’t agree with their assessment, that ‘The Tao that can be spoken is not the true and eternal Tao?’”
“It’s the
most self-defeating statement I’ve ever heard.”
“But
is it true?”
“That’s for
you to find out.”
“What
do you mean?”
“Your
greater miracle, remember?”
“What
do you mean?”
“To
do the undoable, remember?”
“Wait-wait-wait. Hold it right there. You’re not saying that what you have in mind
all along is for me to ‘speak the “Unspeakable”, are you?”
“Very
perceptive of you, Anthony.”
“You
want me to speak the true and eternal Tao to my species, so that the Way of Man
will accord directly to the Way of the Cosmos – is that it?”
“Of course
you’ll have to conceive the ‘Inconceivable’ and know the ‘Unknowable’ first,
before you can speak the ‘Unspeakable’.”
“And
of course you exactly what this Tao is.”
“Of course.”
“Well,
isn’t that nice? I’ll just put a pen in
my right hand and let you use it to write your book with, while I read it as
you write.”
“Not quite.”
“Why
not?”
“Earth must
heal herself.”
“So,
what are you doing here?”
“Would
you rather have me not be here?”
“No,
no, I didn’t mean that. Don’t take
offense.”
“I’m not
offended, but you do have to do the work.”
“Sure. Philosophers have tried it for more than two
millennia and failed, and you want me to do it in two decades?”
“Well, it
may take you a decade or two to speak the ‘Unspeakable’, but to conceive the
‘Inconceivable’, two months should suffice.”
“Starting
from scratch, since I haven’t got the foggiest idea where to even begin. Why don’t you give me a clue?”
“The clue is
in the saying.”
“Which
saying?”
“One of the two.”
“The
one ending with the word ‘nature’?”
“The key
word ‘nature’.”
“What
did you say?”
“I said, the
key word ‘nature’.”
“That’s what I thought I heard. Nature.
Yes, nature, that to which the Tao itself accords.”
“And the way to understand nature?”
“Yes!
Science! So then, the key to
unlock the ‘Unlockable’ is science? But
if so, why haven’t the scientists unlocked it yet?”
“What
scientists?”
“You
know – science - scientists.”
“What
field?”
“Oh,
ah, well, I don’t know. If I say
Physicist, a pure physicist can talk about space-time, electricity, mechanics,
but they can’t talk about life and society and consciousness, which are
integral parts of human nature.
Conversely, a pure biologist can’t talk about quarks, galaxies nor
relativity. So, I guess it would have
to be scientists of all the major sciences.”
“How
many?”
“Well,
I guess it should be at least one from each field of physics, chemistry,
biology, sociology, ecology, geology and astronomy. And I guess philosophy too, since Taoism began as a
philosophy. So, I would say at least
eight.”
“Or
one. One who has mastered the basics of
all eight fields.”
“And
that’s me?”
“I don’t see
anyone else here.”
“Okay,
I’ve taken university level courses in physics, chemistry, biology, ecology,
geology and astronomy, but I didn’t ace all that many courses. And I can’t say I know much about sociology,
nor philosophy.
“How
long have you lived in a human society?”
“Since
I was born.”
“And how
many philosophical systems, and religious systems for that matter, have found
the Tao?”
“None,
that I know of.”
“Then I
guess you’ll do.”
“So
now what?”
“What has
never been done for the sciences so far?
Hint – the clue is in the question.”
“Sciences
– plural? I think what you’re driving
at is the integration of the sciences such that they collectively transcend
into a single, all-embracing scientific body, All-The-Sciences-In-One. The sciences are currently like a pile of unassembled
jigsaw-puzzle pieces, which in fact has been begging for just such a
transcendental integration in the back of my mind for quite some time.”
“What
should such a body of knowledge be called?”
“The
word for all-in-one is ‘omni’, so I guess we can call it OMNI-SCIENCE. Wow, without the hyphen and it will spell
OMNISCIENCE. How appropriate.”
“And
what would you call one who studies and practices OMNI-SCIENCE?”
“Science
– scientist. So, OMNISCIENCE -
OMNISCIENTIST.”
“And
the person who first transcendentally integrates all the sciences into one?”
“The
first Omniscientist. Ah. Now I see what you were saying about the
First Omniscientist being the greatest disillusionist.”
“So, what do
you think you will see on the assembled puzzle as a whole?”
“I
would expect some kind of big picture not seen before, a kind of universal
pattern that permeates all fields. Some
new model of the Universe. Some new
Omniscientific Cosmology that embraces not just the physical sciences but the
biological and social sciences as well.
And obviously, according to you, the Tao Itself.”
“Good
arrival. Congratulations!”
“Still,
how?”
“Somehow. Anyhow, if you succeed, you may rightly be
known as the Original Omniscientist, or the First Omniscientific Cosmologist,
and be the greatest disillusionist in the world,” said Raminothna.