The Word

The Word was first,

the Word present to God,

God present to the Word.

The Word was God,

in readiness for God from day one.

Everything was created through him;

nothing--not one thing!-

came into being without him.

What came into existence was Life,

and the Life was Light to live by.

The Life-Light blazed out of the darkness;

the darkness couldn't put it out.

In The Message, Eugene Peterson

In these first few verses of his gospel, the author (who may or may not have been John) presents a Christological view of Creation, affirming that Christ played a central role in the creation of the universe.

He refers to Christ here as ‘the Word’. This is from the Greek word logos, which as well as word can also mean reason or argument.

The Greek philosopher Heraclitus was probably the first to use Logos in a metaphysical sense; he believed that the Logos was a divine force which produces order in the chaos of nature. He said the world is constantly changing (“You cannot step into the same river twice, for fresh waters are ever flowing in upon you.”) and is controlled by this eternal force which not only governs the world, but is the world; Heraclitus was one of the first pantheists.

In Chinese Bibles, Logos is translated as Tao. In Chinese philosophy, Tao is the supreme Force, the Rhythm of Life which pulsates throughout the whole universe. The Chinese religion of Taoism is largely based on the writings of the sixth century BCE philosopher Lao Tzu. He said of the Tao:

“The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.

The name is the mother of the ten thousand things.”[1]

This is, in a lot of ways, very similar to the beginning of John’s gospel. The Tao was with God, and at the same time was God.

Whatever we choose to call It, the important part (to my mind at least) is that the Logos had an important part to play in the creation story, and It did not simply disappear after the creation act, but goes on even today.

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[1] Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu

Technology

"Our working hypothesis is that the status of knowledge is altered as societies enter what is known as the postindustrial age and cultures enter what is known as the postmodern age. This transition has been under way since at least the end of the 1950s, which for Europe marks the completion of reconstruction. The pace is faster or slower depending on the country, and within countries it varies according to the sector of activity: the general situation is one of temporal disjunction which makes sketching an overview difficult. A portion of the description would necessarily be conjectural. At any rate, we know that it is unwise to put too much faith in futurology."

- Jean-François Lyotard

Tao Te Ching

The Tao that can be spoken of is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.

The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth.
The name is the mother of the ten thousand things.

Send your desires away and you will see the mystery.
Be filled with desire and you will see only the manifestation.

As these two come forth they differ in name.
Yet at their source they are the same.
This source is called a mystery.

Darkness within darkness, the gateway to all mystery.

-Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu

- andrew