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The Problem of Proof and Mysticism
Is there such a thing as spiritual truth?
“Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know.” Lao Tzu
“Silence is the language of God.” Rumi
Is the Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu philosophy? The “Tao” (道, the way) lacks a straightforward proposition, analysis, and rational ground. There isn’t a problem formulated or answers to be found. Some of its poetic aphorisms and metaphors are profoundly enigmatic and paradoxical, even nonsensical.
Yet somehow, the Tao Te Ching, just like the poetry of Sufi mystic Rumi, appeals to a deep, ethereal side of our human nature, evoking the experience that some things about our existence will remain forever outside comprehension.
Alan Watts would describe the Tao as a reality we apprehend deeply without being able to define it. How is the Tao inexpressible and yet, at the same time, understandable? How can we know if knowing the Tao is true or, if the Tao can be known at all?
Moreover, how is it possible to have an experience that remains outside comprehension? Can the truth claims of mystic traditions like Taoism, Buddhism, Advaita, Sufism be validated? Is there such a thing as spiritual truth at all?
