Purposefully, the Daodejing does not define Tao.  In fact, it specifically states it as undefinable, unable to be named.  Yet it also describes Tao as an empty bowl, unable to be filled.  It says the Tao is intangible but the source of all things, tangible and intangible.

Translations are often literal, and it’s certainly difficult to translate a concept as it was understood thousands of years ago into other languages.  Yet I think Tao is a concept that’s not limited to Taoist philosophy.  The Latin word “potens” which means powerful or able is the root for the English word “potential” which means ” existing in possibility, capable of development into actuality”.

Tao translates roughly into “the way” or “path”.  However I think a more understandable translation would be “potential”.  The words are sensibly interchangeable.

We all have potential.  It can never be used up.  Potential is not something you can point at, it exists only as possibility.  Yet it is the starting point for all things.

Every choice and every action realizes possibilities that are brought into actuality.  Some outcomes are positive, some are not, yet potential remains ambivalent and continuous.

The path is comprised of what?  The ongoing series of choices we make from moment to moment.  An endless stream of possibilities or potentials that result in both tangible and intangible outcomes.

Many of the people I have studied with lean towards keeping Tao as some mystical energy that should ever remain vague.  My understanding is very different.  To me, the Daoist is the epitome of practicality.  Live simple.  Less is more.  Be direct.

The idea that Tao cannot be defined is not to be mystical.  I believe it means that Tao is potential, undefined because its nature is possibilities.  Being mindful that everything you do (or don’t do) is to be aware of the Tao, or the ever present potential that is within us and around us.