last turtle standing

Know the male,
yet keep to the female:
receive the world in your arms.
If you receive the world,
the Tao will never leave you
and you will be like a little child.
Know the white,
yet keep to the black:
be a pattern for the world.
If you are a pattern for the world,
the Tao will be strong inside you
and there will be nothing you can't do.
Know the personal,
yet keep to the impersonal:
accept the world as it is.
If you accept the world,
the Tao will be luminous inside you
and you will return to your primal self.
The world is formed from the void,
like utensils from a block of wood.
The Master knows the utensils,
yet keeps to the block:
thus she can use all things.
-- Stephen Mitchell, Chapter 28, Tao Te Ching

We were in a classroom.

I sat in a student desk.

Jesus and Lao Tzu sat behind the teacher's desk.

Jesus wore a black mortarboard, tassel to the right.

Lao Tzu wore a white mortarboard, tassel to the left.

"You are wearing my hat," Lao Tzu said to Jesus.

"Oh!," said Jesus. They switched hats.

"Now for your first and last question," said Lao Tzu to me.

"They say it is turtles all the way down. On what does the last turtle stand?"

I thought for a moment.

Ringgggg!!! The bell rang for the end of the school day.

We got up to go.

"Don't forget to do your home work!" said Jesus.

"Where is home?" I asked.

"Congratulations!" said Lao Tzu. "You answered the question."