OneSeeker

Sorry, I guess I'm prone to using jargon. But we're trying to talk about things that are easier to name than to explain or describe. Let's say that the Tao or the One is totally beyond limitation, description, definition, qualification. Even to say "It is" and that "It is some thing" is falling short. The first "moment" is the emergence of the first existence (from virtual or potential to actual, where it first becomes (potentially) knowable, hence "manifest"); we call it a "moment" because it doesn't occur in time but is always occurring, in the sense that existence always is, and is always being created by what is beyond existence. The Unlimited is, if you'll excuse the expression, unlimitedness as such, and the Limited is limitedness as such. These are also referred to as the Unbounded and Boundary. There is no unlimited thing becoming a limited thing. I'm sorry if this sounds unclear, but again, I'm trying to understand things that are too simple to put into word-containers. There is no "met," there is eternal "meeting" in the Now, giving birth to everything else. Matter is, indeed, the most limited thing of all, at least according to Plotinus, who regards it as the nearest possible thing to Nonbeing and the farthest from True Being. It's unlimited only in the sense that it has no self-definition and must be formed by something which has Form in itself and the power to impart it. The Unlimited or Unbounded is such by being full of the potential and the power to be Form and Power and Creativity when "married" to Limit. Finally, trying not to be too technical, but the "greater powers" are those existences that are prior in being (not prior in time, because time doesn't apply) and so are nearer (in being, because space doesn't apply) to the source of being. By being more full of Being (I know, this is getting pretty unintelligible), they have more Being to give, so to speak. No apologies necessary, by the way. I don't see anything argumentative, and you're giving my ego a chance to bask in the reflected glory of other people's great insights.

The more questions, the better, in my opinion. Maybe the reason you're in perplexity about this is that "definition" means "limit." So you're limiting the limitless by defining it. Marblehead's comment that "The first word that came to mind is 'Tao'" seems very true. I'd add "the One" from my Philosophy background. In either case, it's just giving a name to something ultimately indefinable and indescribable, which can be known only by the non-dualistic, non-verbal mind. So maybe the solution is to treat your question as a koan, not to receive a specific answer but to receive a flash of direct insight.

Here I go indulging my addiction to intellectualism, apologies in advance: In Greek philosophy, the first "moment" of manifestation is precisely the meeting of Unlimited and Limit. Plato's unwritten doctrine expressed it as the One (beyond limit or unlimitedness) producing the Indefinite Dyad (i.e., Unlimited and Limit). Plotinus later described the Dyad as Being and Essence, the point being that for something to Be, it must not only Be, it must be Something. The similarity to the Tao giving rise to Yin and Yang seems self-evident to me, but I could be overreaching. On another level, that which has no limit or form is the chaos of pure matter, the lowest or farthest extension of the creative impulse. It has no power to produce or create but can only receive Form from the greater powers.

Wowie, things sure are different up there. The last time I watched the local news from Richmond, the top story was about a tree branch falling on a parked car. I'm not kidding. This is exactly why I signed up with Tao Bums. Seems like every time I take a deep breath or a good stretch, I find another blockage. Thanks for the link.

Thanks for the welcome. I'm not sure they allow anyone to live in Virginia, mostly it's just existing. But it's better than South Carolina. Sect-wise, there's actually a little of everything here, but most of the diversity is in the D.C. suburbs; they have everything from Anabaptists to Zoroastrians up there. Real Virginians consider that foreign territory, though. Excellent choice. I'm thinking of suggesting we drop the cardinal here and adopt the turkey vulture instead.