Thanks for this article, David. I first read the Tao de Ching while studying religion in college. It is one of the best books I've ever read and I've read countless books of multiple religions. I had an assignment to relate the Tao to modern life and found that it wasn't difficult to show that the Tao fit perfectly with the machines we now use. The flow of the Tao relates to the flow of all things mechanical. I used a jet plane and its engine as an example. I received a good grade, of course and the Professor asked to keep a copy of my paper to use in future classes. And I think it should be pointed out that the Tao de Ching's pronunciation in English is "Dow de King", although not meaning "King" as in the modern understanding- that's just the Western way of pronouncing "Ching", as "Dow" is also just the modern pronunciation of "Tao".

Great article and I hope it encourages many people to read the Tao. As for the first line it's similar to Gautama Buddha's instruction:

"If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."

That sounds strange until you realize The Buddha you "meet" is not the true Buddha, because Buddha comes from within, not from the external world.

Bravo for sharing the Tao.