Tao Te Ching 38 (Teaching 3)

When the Tao is lost, there is goodness.
When goodness is lost, there is morality.
When morality is lost, there is ritual.
Ritual is the husk of true faith, the beginning of chaos.

Therefore the Master concerns himself with the depths and not the surface, with the fruit and not the flower. He has no will of his own. He dwells in reality, and lets all illusions go.
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Similar to the last teaching, here the Tao Te Ching again notes the descent from the natural way of life through various levels of dualistic or ego-based judgment until finally arriving at the door to chaos. If we paused on this slippery slope at the point of “goodness”, then things wouldn’t be too bad. But, goodness lives next door to morality and it’s only one step from one yard to the other.

But even morality can erode and become nothing more than a ritualistic or habitual commitment to a carefully specified action or inaction. At that point the life inherent in the way, and whatever life may remain in goodness or morality, is gone – leaving only the dry husk of what was once a living faith. Welcome to chaos in the form of blind faith, dead faith, dogmatic faith or some other self-righteous, ego-centered belief system.

The Master is not caught in the illusion of faith, which is little more than a ritual. Rather, s/he resists the descent into chaos and remains as close as possible to the true faith that is embedded in creation. True faith in what, some may ask. The answer is to stop, look, listen, smell, taste, feel, and experience what is omnipresent and omnipotent. Then, you’ll know.