There is still a way in this world, and we started trying to understand it very early in history. But as humans tend to do, it was bent to superficial ends. The Taoists saw that there was a way in nature, and a way in man. They didn’t have ambitions regarding it, beyond living their life well and trying to help others. Taoism was a bit ahead of it’s time, and a lot of it’s “wisdom” can be applied. Even the early “natural philosophers”, what we now call scientists, took inspiration from it. Much of our modern medicine and even our engineering came from “occult” lore.
“The Tao that can be told of is not the eternal Tao;
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The Nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth;
The Named is the mother of all things.
Therefore, let there always be non-being, so we may see their subtlety,
And let there always be being, so we may see their outcome.
The two are the same,
But after they are produced, they have different names.
They both may be called deep and profound.
Deeper and more profound,
The door of all subtleties!”
Lao Tzu
Taoism is one of those world religions that sort of isn’t one. Many popular Chinese concepts are connected to Taoism and actually in many ways it’s like the Egyptian faith. The basic principle is acceptance of and living with the natural way. Lao-Tzu was its unofficial founder and one of the immortals that are venerated, though that’s really true only of religious Taoism. As a matter of fact, like Buddhism the bulk of Taoist schools don’t deify anything. They adopted a lot of symbolism from the long since defunct Chinese religion of Bon, which is basically Chinese shamanism. The dancing… Seek More
There are many allegories in Taoism and much like Greek Gnosticism it is heavily experience based, though there are a body of philosophers, referred to as sages, who are viewed as having deep insight into the Tao, like Chuang-Tzu and other students of Lao Tzu. Does Taoism have monks and nuns like Buddhism? No, and in fact that concept is foreign to Taoist thinking. The only purity that can be attained in Taoism is harmony with the Tao. So how is one a Taoist from a participation perspective? It’s a personal pursuit, almost like a science. It is like seeing… Seek More
I’ve been asked to describe a normal day of mine, or rather abnormal? My day actually starts in my night. I have some unusual conditions I deal with so taking a Taoist view helps me accept “my way” in life, since I can’t implement “common sense.” I’m autistic among other things. I always dream lucidly. So I wake processing the dream content. I consider what I’m able to do in a day and meditate in bed as I find motivation to act in the day and let my internal impulses guide me. Not my mood but instinct. It runs deeper… Seek More
