The TAO of Direction

About this poem

The TAO of Direction or ‘The Way,’ embracing and encompassing opposites, is that of Oneness and Unity. English poet Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936), focusing on oppositions and dualities as absolutes in nature, declared famously in a poem: “East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.” This haiku poem invites introspection, takes a different perspective, and examines reality from a Taoist perspective ( a child’s “un-carved block” or “Pu” perspective) that discerns and unearths the underlying unity of all phenomena; the child becoming teacher and father of the man. With Tao, East and West are intertwined, like an alchemical ouroboros embracing the extent and expanse of itself by biting its own tail, depicting thus the eternal cyclical nature of time and direction. Just as a child is a student to a teacher, so is the Occidental West a student to the wisdom of the Oriental East. more »