The Visible Comes from the Invisible - There is more to it - DaoDeJing 40

There is always the first cause. The first cause is usually invisible. Their existence is known after we see the visible effects like the creation of the world. So, don't prejudge. Discover what lies below the surfaces and the root causes. DaoDeJing 40

DaoDeJing Chapter 40 Text & Translation:

反者，道之动，弱者，道之用，

Responses are the movement of Dao.

Gentleness is the means through which Dao uses.

天下万物生于有，有生于无。

All things under heaven come from having a body to be visible. The visible bodies come from the invisible seemingly void. (Invisible does not mean there is nothing. It is just that you can't see it.)

Dao is Always Working
Dao is not static. It is always working and responding to the actions of men and all things in the universe. But Dao works in the way of gentleness and the seemingly weak. So it is easy for men to ignore the response from Dao. Consider the pollution of the environment and global warming. The effects are not immediately felt but take place over a long time. Nature will try to restore the balance as much as possible. But there are limits and men may be pushing the limits too far.

The Visible comes from the Invisible

What we don't see does not mean they are not there. We are just not paying attention or we just don't have the instruments to see them. But they are there. Consider this quote from NASA about Dark Energy and Dark Matter: 

• What Is Dark Energy?
  More is unknown than is known. We know how much dark energy there is because we know how it affects the universe's expansion. Other than that, it is a complete mystery. But it is an important mystery. It turns out that roughly 68% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27%. The rest - everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter - adds up to less than 5% of the universe. 

Dark is not evil. Dark is about our lack of knowledge of it. 

Reflection:

There are many lessons we can learn from this.

• The visible world we have now is created by the invisible God at the start. The Bible has some verses that support this. 
• Hebrews 11:3 By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God's command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. 
• 2 Corinthians 4:18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 
• There is a root cause. 
• Things don't just happen. The problems we are discovering now are but the symptoms of some root causes that could happen long before we are aware. It is always better to fix a problem as early as possible. 
• There is more than we what we see. 
• Consider the iceberg. What is seen is only a small portion of it. Hence, your ship may have already hit the iceberg below the water before you thought you were close. There are always more things beneath the surfaces of the stories that you hear. Don't jump into conclusions. Always reserve your judgment until you can discover the facts. 
• What you don't see does not mean it is not there. Don't be too sure of yourself. Of course, you have to guard against going in the other extreme and end up with fear driven analysis paralysis.

Lim Liat (c) 22 Nov 2016

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