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The Why and What of Taoist Thought
Why Taoist Thought?
One of the best questions I ever asked myself was, “What causes religion in the first place?” The earliest signs of religious activity (and presumably thought) go back at least 40,000 years. Advances in technology over the ages have been consistently followed by ‘advances’ in religious thought and practice. For me, the empirically obvious answer to my question, “why religion,” is this: Religion evolves as a cultural framework to counterbalance cultural stresses which follow in the wake of technological advances.
Examples of this are found in the momentous change that occurred in religious paradigms as the iron age replaced the stone and bronze age, e.g., the birth of Judaism (followed by Christianity and Islam), Buddhism, Zoroaster, Hinduism, Taoism. It is hard to realize now, but iron’s impact on societies back then was as profound as the industrial revolution’s impact was in recent times.
Ideally, religion is a way for people to cope with life’s changing circumstances. Alas, religion often gets caught up in the change and loses sight of its founding fundamentals. A Taoist world-view can be a ‘way’ of last resort to those for whom mainstream religions cease being a helpful way to cope.
Reunite and Return
It is easier to understand how religion (in general) and Taoist thought (in particular) are supposed to work by considering the core problem. The idea that humanity is excluded from an ‘Eden’, of one sort or another, is common among all religions. Indeed, the biblical story of Adam and Eve’s expulsion from Eden shares common ground with the Taoist view. Their problem began when desire drove them to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and they became aware of their nakedness. From there, however, Taoist views and most religions part company, especially in regards of what to do. Interestingly, the word religion (i.e., Latin for re-unite) itself conveys the universal question: How to re-unite with pre-knowledge innocence and return to ‘Eden’.
Taoist thought is a way to return to this ‘original self’ as much as practicable. Taoists view words, names, and knowledge of good and evil (without the devil’s role of course), as the principle reason we discern a schism between Nature and ourselves. Civilization tames people by instilling in them cultural ‘norms’ from infancy onward. And let’s face it, taming people (civilizing us) is the only way to get large populations settled into more or less peaceful co-existence. This comes at a price; we actually think that we know, willfully innovate, and so lose a proper sense of awe. I must confess, the older I get, the more I feel like I’m living in a zoo observing (and being one among) the flora and fauna. I say zoo because civilization has so extensively circumscribed human behavior. Fortunately, Taoist thought helps me return. Returning to one’s roots, as the Tao Te Ching puts it.
What is Taoist Thought?
Reading the Tao Te Ching is perhaps the best, if not the only, way to open that door. Hopefully, this site’s many posts will be helpful as well. Just briefly though, I’ll review some of the main points below…
Tao means way in Chinese. Anything said beyond that is tentative, for as the opening verse of the Tao Te Ching states: “The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way. The name that can be named is not the constant name.” So, consider this overview with that in mind:
We react to life according to how we perceive it. If a perception is out of touch with natural reality, we react in unbalanced ways that waste time, energy, and bring about unnecessary chaos and suffering. Taoist thought seeks to solve this problem at its perceptual source. As the Tao Te Ching puts it: “Woe to him who willfully innovates while ignorant of the constant…”
Taoist thought offers us a way to see through the chaos of life, and realize within ourselves this “constant.” How does Taoist thought do this?
Taoist thought rests on the view that reality is complementary; nature is inherently cooperative—not competitive. The Chinese black and white Yin-Yang circle symbolizes this balancing principle. Consider the following excerpts from the Tao Te Ching which illustrate this circular relationship.
“Thus Something and Nothing produce each other.”
“It is on disaster that good fortune perches; It is beneath good fortune that disaster crouches.”
Knowing this circular relationship moderates extremes and allows us to look deeper. As another verse, referring to opposites, states: “These two are the same, but diverge in name as they issue forth. Being the same they are called mysteries, mystery upon mystery—the gateway of the manifold secrets.”
Easing the distinction between opposites helps us sense a deeper reality, as this excerpt shows: “…Untangle the knots; soften the glare; settle the dust. This is known as mysterious sameness.”
Or, even more challenging to our idealized view of life: “The whole world recognizes the beautiful as the beautiful, yet this is only the ugly; the whole world recognizes the good as the good, yet this is only the bad.”
There are a few verses in the Tao Te Ching which attempt to describe the “constant way” more directly. Here are some excerpts:
“As a thing the way is shadowy, indistinct…”
“There is a thing, confusedly formed, born before heaven and earth. Silent and void. It stands alone and does not change…”
“Turning back is how the way moves; weakness is the means the way employs.”
“The way is empty, yet use will not drain it. Deep, it is like the ancestor of the myriad creatures.”
“Darkly visible, it only seems as if it were there. I know not whose son it is. It images the forefather of God.”
If you find this approach promising, examine this site thoroughly for practical ways to implement the principles set forth here.
My photostream hit a quarter of a million views today.
I'm kind of amazed.
My life has taken an amazing turn in the last year.
A turn that I never could have predicted.
I've survived some craziness and chaos that turned my world upside down and inside out.
In the lonliest and darkest period of my life I was able to overcome the overwhelming insanity and lay down the plans for a beautiful future.
Like so many immersed in an epic personal struggle my thoughts and my thinking were very self centered.
Sometimes I felt sorry for myself.
Often I'd felt entirely alone.
What turned my world 'right side in' again was the moment I pointed the camera at a stranger and took their picture on the street close up.
That was the moment I looked outside of my self.
Where I had run in mental cirlcles looking for answers within myself that would never come...
once I turned my psyche around and focused outwards on the world and on the existence and the struggles of others...
those answers came like never before.
I felt like I was a part of something bigger.
The last year has been one of the best years of my life.
Those serious challenges over the last couple of years profoundly changed me as a human being.
On the path to a new life...
something just fundamentally changed within me in the way that I saw the world.
It was an incredible paradigm shift and I set out with my camera over the last year to document that 'changed reality' that I saw.
This 'new world' I found myself in fascinated me deeply.
Really it was a world that was always there...
I guess I'd just hadn't been seeing it.
I embraced life and all of it's texture in a way that I had never experienced before.
My heart was opened to the love and the light and the love and the light didn't let me down...
it filled me up to overflowing.
That a quarter of a million times I've been able to share that love and light with you...
it's been one of the most wonderful gifts I've ever received as a human being.
I can't express to you the magnitude of the way that this experience has positively affected my soul.
But I don't need to I suppose...
because you've been on this journey with me every step of the way.
Your interest in this world I've been so fortunate to experience and photograph has been a paramount validation of the path that I decided to take and the course I'd charted out in the last of those dark moments...
when I determined that there was a wonderful and fascinating and beautiful life to experience out there once the smoke of the chaos had cleared.
I'll never forget the moments that I saw myself on a journey alone as a soul could be.
I will not forget the instant that thinking was reversed and I realized that indeed we're all on the same journey.
I learned that from you.
I'm so incredibly fortunate that we've taken this journey together.
And with all of the people who've let me into their world with my camera for a moment or more.
I'm grateful beyond words...
but ultimately there's only two words that can come close to conveying my deepest and most heartfelt feelings:
Thank you.
Saw this poster on FaceBook, and I know it is a banal self-evident statement- but I had never looked at what I was doing in that particular metaphorically way, and it changed me- before I thought of myself as hiding from the problem and hoping it wouldn't find me, but now I realize that in stalling, or running, I can never get past the problem. I have started running toward problems instead of away.
“The difficulty lies not so much in developing new ideas as in escaping from old ones. – Keynes”
Dismissal for this Week Macro Monday challenge!
Macro Monday project – 08/12/13
“Round”
In the past four years, I have gone from being the most cynical person I knew, to being the most idealistic. Most of that change has taken place over the last twelve months.
It has been an interesting experience. It's funny how differently people perceive you based on how you perceive the world.
I was a cynical (and often sarcastic) middle schooler and high schooler. Not mean... but negative overall. It showed in my attitude, my speech, my sense of humor, the way I held myself, the books I enjoyed—the way I viewed myself, and the way I presented myself to others.
And you might be amazed to hear just how many compliments I got for it. People said I was so mature, so intelligent, so remarkably smart for my age. Teachers treated me differently than they did my classmates. Adults (and children) treated me as an adult. I won't say my classmates always treated me with respect, but very often, yes. Online, people would regularly peg me as being ten years older than I actually was (and express disbelief if and when they found out otherwise). "But you're so mature," they'd say. Or, "you're smart, and you type so well!"
(I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy, that, mind. It was quite an ego boost, and for all my apparent worldiness, I didn't have a lot of self-confidence.)
Now I'm twenty-one, and the pendulum has swung to the other side of the chasm. I'm a happier, more cheerful, friendlier, and more idealistic person.
People treat me differently for it, and not in a good way.
People look down on me. I don't think it's a conscious thing. But people don't really take optimism (or, by extension, optimists) seriously.
Because of my attitude about the world, people assume that I am unintelligent overall. I notice it when I meet new people. I notice it with my classmates and professors (and with a few of them, I believe it does impact the inscrutable grading process). I notice it with my coworkers. I notice it, unfortunately, in my friends.
It's a very weird thing, to have someone talk down to me. I don't deserve it, I don't need it, and I don't like it. Unfortunately, in the last few months, I've started to get used to it.
Cynicism is not a sign of intelligence, and neither is idealism one of foolishness and stupidity. I am just as intelligent (hopefully moreso) than I was as a wisecracking fifteen year old.
Please treat me like an adult.
Drew Leshko, TYDOL. Archival paper, dry pigments, enamel, wood, clay, wire, plastic, inkjet prints: 15 in (h) x 41.5 in (w) x 6 in (d).
Our world can heal itself...and so can we.
Dream Entry:
5/26/10
"There is a creature which lies in the dirt at the water's edge. He has no hair and is covered with gooey blue skin. I can see under his slimy surface that he has veins, but he is very moist with raw shiny flesh. I know he is dying because the environment around him is dying too. Toward the end of this vision, things turn around and he begins to heal. All the slimy blue flesh begins to dry up and turn into beige flakey skin. He seems to be highly intelligent, healing himself quickly now until he can stand up."
Drew Leshko, BIG SKY. Archival paper, dry pigments, enamel, wood, clay, wire, plastic, inkjet print: 16 in (h) x 36.75 in (w).
The infamous Paradigm Daleks!
Introduced in 2010, this radical redesign of the Daleks was rather controversial in the fandom. They were absolutely massive in comparison to the previous designs, and had a noticeable hump back.
For my take, I scaled them down to be only slightly larger than the previous dalek designs, as well as lessening the hump. I'm very proud of how this came out and how it fits in with my other dalek designs