whatmoonsongs

I gave my mother a copy of Everyday Tao for Christmas, as it's one of my very favorite books and we are similarly fascinated with our spirits and the unseen and so on and so forth. Each of the 256 pages is it's own little chapter and is devoted to a different topic. I bookmarked pg. 31 for her because it moved me to tears the first time I read it.

Purity

... to be with Tao, we need only innocence.

Purity is the ultimate Tao. It is like clear running water. Or newly fallen snow. Or a freshly sprouting plant in early spring. Or a newborn child. Purity is real, and it is the state of Tao.

Innocence is to be absolutely clear, without the taint of selfishness. Innocene knows no ultierior motives, no lust for immortality, no drive to be extraordinary. Innocence is simplicity.

The ancients taught that you are already innocent. No matter who you are, you have an inviolable core. No matter how many sins you have committed, there is a part of you that is pure. The ancients deeply believed this of all human beings.

It is from this core that you should seek Tao. It is not necessary to seek Tao in an intellectual way, or in an ambitious way, or in a selfish way. It is unnecessary to seek Tao for the sake of some supposed salvation. If you understand your own absolute purity, then you can see how unnecessary such methods are. You are already pure.

Innocence does not need to make efforts. Innocence does not need to belong to groups. Innocence does not need to be anything. Innocence is inherently pure, and that inherent purity is Tao.

The next day, she remarked, "It's interesting that's your favorite piece because that's what your name means - purity." I'd forgotten, until she said so, but sure enough:

Kathryn... derived from Greek Aikaterine, which is derived from katharos. Pure. Unsullied.