Beingness is a Bare Light Bulb

Q: What does the term “shining” point to? I’ve seen this said other ways, including self-shining, luminous, radiant, etc. The Tao Te Ching says: “This source is called darkness. Darkness within darkness.” How do these pointers relate to one another? 
 
A: I'm glad you made me think of the Tao Te Ching – It's really such a beautiful document. I've been googling this morning and looking at the various translations. I was going to make the point to you that you shouldn't pay any attention to the words, and to underscore that, I found this page that has 140 English translations of the first verse, and they're all completely different!

So you have no idea what that which was translated or re-translated as "darkness" was really referring to in the original Chinese. The Tao cannot be labeled. Labeling is the province of the mind, which also simply appears within the Tao. Labeling is a self-closed loop that is fruitless to follow.

But, that being said, you asked about the word "shining," which I think is kind of a useful one, in how it points to the very obviousness of the consciousness that is here without any bidding. If there were a bare light bulb blaring in the room, you would not be able to miss it, and it is this same way with the consciousness that is referred to. You can't miss this consciousness – it is shining in plain view, to borrow a line from John Wheeler.

Of course, dark, light, and all other words indicate some duality which does not really exist. All terms and adjectives spilt and divide, and there is no such division. Neither darkness nor light have any meaning at all. There is no meaning in the Tao, no darkness, no light.

What is "shining" is the fact of the simple beingness that you are. All dualities, all descriptions of what qualities there are, dissolve in present-time beingness, in which there is nothing. No meaning, no entities, no events – just consciousness alone, shining for you to see, and embrace as all that you are.

I don't know if this is what you were after. If you have more questions, let me know.