the way of life...

"Before creation a presence existed,
Self-contained, complete,
Formless, voiceless, mateless,
Changeless,
Which yet pervaded itself
With unending motherhood.

Though there can be no name for it,
I have called 'the way of life.'

Perhaps I should have called it 'the fullness of life,'
Since fullness implies widening into space,
Implies still further widening,
Implies widening until the circle is whole.

In this sense the way of life is fulfilled
And a fit man is also fulfilled:

These are the four amplitudes of the universe
And a fit man is one of them:

Man rounding the way of earth,
Earth rounding the way of heaven,
Heaven rounding the way of life
Till the circle is full."

Lao Tzu
in _The Way of Life According to Lao Tzu:
An American Version by Witter Bynner_
New York: Capricorn Books, 1962 (1944), #25, p. 40