Tao Te Ching, Chapter 25

Lao Tzu

There was something formless and perfect before the universe was born. It is serene. Empty. Solitary. Unchanging. Infinite. Eternally present. It is the mother of the universe. For lack of a better name, I call it the Tao. It flows through all things, inside and outside, and returns to the origin of all things.

Lao Tzu gestures toward an ineffable origin, something beyond the grasp of language or form. In Western traditions, creation often starts with an act or a word—think of Genesis—but here, the universe emerges from silence and stillness. This suggests a shift from doing to being, hinting at a reality that simply is, before all else.

View full source