Tao Te Ching, no. 25

Imagining Mystery

There is something

that contains everything.

Before heaven and earth

it is.

Oh, it is still, unbodied,

all on its own, unchanging.

all-pervading,

ever-moving.

So it can act as the mother

of all things.

Not knowing its real name,

we only call it the Way.

If it must be named,

let its name be Great.

Greatness means going on,

going on means going far,

and going far means turning back.

So they say: "The Way is great,

heaven is great,

earth is great,

humankind is great;

four greatnesses in the world,

and humanity is one of them."

People follow earth,

earth follows heaven,

heaven follows the Way,

the Way follows what is.

-- translated by Ursula K. Le Guin