This book is an attempt, one that springs from a wish to make a more understandable and readable Tao Te Ching. Having read several different translations and lived with them for a long period of time, the author bestowed upon himself the authority to pick and choose, so to speak, phrases and sections of one translation of a particular chapter and put the individual parts together with others. At times words and phrases were changed by the author into his own words, and at times a whole chapter translation was kept as a whole. He considers himself the selector and editor of the whole work. He did his best to maintain the paradoxical nature of many chapters so as not to rewrite Lao Tzu. You will find that all the beauty, mystery, and force have in no way been tampered with. Each chapter is a full work and stands on its own. The only barrier that may remain in keeping the reader from understanding the work is the reader’s own inability to let himself go and to think in new and different ways. Let there be no mistake about it. Lao Tzu is profound. Some people may read this book and find no sense in it. They may always miss the point. But the Tao Te Ching, it must be understood, is not for everybody. As Lao Tzu himself suggests, some people will get nothing more than a good laugh out of reading many of these passages. Thus, it will always be so for the sage author of a work that goes way beyond the average. So take your time, allow no distractions, and consume.