Finding the Common Ground Between Science and Spirituality on the expression called Tao Tao means “the way,” implying the unnamed mysterious process of the emergence of the cosmos out of nothing The cosmos and everything that exists are manifestations of Tao, which in itself is formless, but it leads to all forms, human concepts being related to forms Tao is undefinable It escapes understanding because of its subtlety and infinitude; one can say it is an infinitely subtle principle It is inexpressible in words because an infinite idea cannot be put in finite words Conversely, if an idea can be expressed in words, it is not infinite: “The Tao that can be understood cannot be the primal, or cosmic, Tao, just as an idea that can be expressed in words cannot be the infinite idea.” (37) This indescribable Tao is the source of the entire cosmos Having expressed the cosmos, the Tao also sustains them For this reason, the Tao can be conceived as the cosmic mother Conceived mysteriously and namelessly, it is the originating principle of the cosmos and, conceived with a name, it is the mother of all that exists: “And yet this ineffable Tao was the source of all spirit and matter, and being expressed was the mother of all created things.” (38) “(Conceived of as) having no name, it is the Originator of heaven and earth; (conceived of as) having a name, it is the Mother of all things.”(39) Tao is an all-inclusive, perfect, undefined, and formless mystery existing before Heaven and earth came into being: “There was something undefined and complete, coming into existence before Heaven and Earth.”(40) 87