Taoism, blocks, carving & sticking

There's a concept in Taoism called P'u, which translates roughly as the "uncarved block." Briefly, it is a metaphor that addresses the idea that when we are born we are in harmony with the Tao. Unburdened by values like right & wrong, the names of things, beauty & ugliness, we are free to fully experience existence. As we grow we develop more and more values and move further and further from harmony with the Tao. This is like a block of wood which uncarved has unlimited potential but which with each cut of the sculptors chisel becomes more restricted in the forms it can take. However Taoists are aware of the limitations this "carving" imposes and so seek to return to the "uncarved" state - and hence harmony.

It's a metaphor that I've never been really happy with and it's not what I believe happens. Once a block is carved, you can fill in the holes & artfully paint the surface to make it again look un-carved, but it's just a carved block pretending to be un-carved. I was walking into my daughter's school this morning and suddenly the thought occurred to me that I believe it is more a case of the "unadorned block." As we go through life things like ego, labels, limits etc get added to our original state, just like sticking things onto a block of wood - making us like an "adorned block." If the adornment makes the block look like a hammer it may seem as if it can only be used as a hammer. Take off all the adornment however and you'll find the original block still there unchanged and full of possibilities. So rather than trying to repair the "damage" life has done, we're just trying to get back to something that's always been there but has just become difficult to see.