standing up in the beginning

So, as ever hidden, we should look at its inner essence:
As always manifest, we should look at its outer aspects.
These two flow from the same source, though differently named.
-- John C.H. Wu

thus in innocence we see the beginning
in passion we see the end
two different names
for one and the same
-- Red Pine

"Lao Tzu, this reminds me of my reply to some of my students when they were so desirous of knowing the end of things." said Jesus as the three of us were walking along through an open meadow.

Lao Tzu looked at him questioningly.

"I told them the place of the beginning is the place of the end."

Lao Tzu chuckled. "I bet they really understood that!"

"A few were starting to. They were accustomed to living according to the "outer aspects" and not according to the "inner essence," as you put it. They did not know that their outer perceptions are determined by their inner essence, that their perceptions of the world are determined by the quality and capaciousness of their inner being."

"So I gather you did not go into long philosophical discussions about this," said Lao Tzu, beginning to be uncomfortable with Jesus's amplification of his words.

Jesus laughed. "No. I responded with a question: Have you found the beginning so that you now seek the end?"

"Lord, Jesus! You are as bad as I am!" Lao Tzu doubled over with laughter.

"Well, I added a little more to it. I told them: Blessed is anyone who will stand up in the beginning and thereby know the end and never die."

We had climbed out of the meadow and were sitting atop a large rock, looking out across the serene and peaceful valley below. We sat quietly for a while.

Lao Tzu broke the silence. "That's true about never dying. When you know the beginning and the end, you know the source from which they flow."