I discovered the teachings of the Tao around 2016 and largely have been taught its principles by reading materials by the late Alan Watts and from my friend Suzy Balliett who resides in Lyons, Colorado.
Alan Watts was responsible for introducing the West to Zen Buddhism in the 1950s and 60s, along with a small counterculture with whom he was closely affiliated. An emigrant of England, Watts made his home in America in Marin County across the bay from San Francisco, a geographically stunning and intellectually stimulating cultural nexus where, while at the American Academy of Asian Studies during the 1950s, he and his colleagues were "concerned with the practical transformation of human consciousness, with the actual living out of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist ways of life".
The Tao dates back thousands of years and originated in prehistoric China. Though Lao Tzu, who wrote its foundational text the Tao Te Ching in either the 3rd or 4th Centuries BCE, is credited as the founder, even he refers to "Tao masters of antiquity". That is to say, the Tao is really old; like yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation, the precise details of its origin and heritage are lost in the haze of time that defines the transition from prehistory to recorded history.
Its principles are few but difficult to comprehend by the rational mind, and difficult to grasp by verbal concepts alone. The Tao translates as the 'road', 'route', 'path', or 'way', sometimes as 'doctrine'. Its adherents largely believe that there is a certain harmonious order in the cosmos, and that human beings would fare well to flow with it, rather than be ignorant of it, fight against it, deny its power, force, and shape, as we so often do.
Taoists identify a certain kind of "unnaturalness" that many human beings succumb to. Out of alignment with the cosmic flow, out of alignment with our own authentic nature or what Freud called "primary process". When unnatural and misaligned, we experience suffering, confusion, energetic disharmony, and mental disorders, of all kinds.
The Te, or virtue, is, according to Watts, "a grace distinct from human striving". From my clinical experience, many clients suffer from living unnaturally, especially when their spiritual depth, or larger sense-of-self, waits undiscovered beneath social adaptations, or who they think they should be.
To me, this striving can also be motivated by our unchecked egoic identities that want power, control, acquisitions, and fulfillment of desires, beyond our limits, constraints, and circumstances, which will cause an unnecessary consortium of negative emotions such as strain, impatience, and frustration.
Wu-wei, or the state of effortless action, is the masterful art of living in congruence with the Tao. It is to be understood, according to Watts, as a "form of intelligence." Realizing wu-wei, but most importantly embodying it, this is the ultimate goal of spiritual practice.
Uncontrived. Spontaneous. Precise action that flows out of the present situation.
Lao Tzu likens the attainment of Wu-wei to the motion of planets revolving around the sun: "the planets effortlessly do this revolving without any sort of control, force, or attempt to revolve themselves, instead engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement." Perhaps our unique asset, the pre-frontal cortex, that part of the brain that developed reason, planning, imagining and higher functions like language, also estranged us from the rest of our biological heritage, leaving us to integrate the giant leap that advanced consciousness afforded us.
Alan Watts was responsible for introducing the West to Zen Buddhism in the 1950s and 60s, along with a small counterculture with whom he was closely affiliated. An emigrant of England, Watts made his home in America in Marin County across the bay from San Francisco, a geographically stunning and intellectually stimulating cultural nexus where, while at the American Academy of Asian Studies during the 1950s, he and his colleagues were "concerned with the practical transformation of human consciousness, with the actual living out of the Hindu, Buddhist, and Taoist ways of life".
The Tao dates back thousands of years and originated in prehistoric China. Though Lao Tzu, who wrote its foundational text the Tao Te Ching in either the 3rd or 4th Centuries BCE, is credited as the founder, even he refers to "Tao masters of antiquity". That is to say, the Tao is really old; like yoga, Ayurveda, and meditation, the precise details of its origin and heritage are lost in the haze of time that defines the transition from prehistory to recorded history.
Its principles are few but difficult to comprehend by the rational mind, and difficult to grasp by verbal concepts alone. The Tao translates as the 'road', 'route', 'path', or 'way', sometimes as 'doctrine'. Its adherents largely believe that there is a certain harmonious order in the cosmos, and that human beings would fare well to flow with it, rather than be ignorant of it, fight against it, deny its power, force, and shape, as we so often do.
Taoists identify a certain kind of "unnaturalness" that many human beings succumb to. Out of alignment with the cosmic flow, out of alignment with our own authentic nature or what Freud called "primary process". When unnatural and misaligned, we experience suffering, confusion, energetic disharmony, and mental disorders, of all kinds.
The Te, or virtue, is, according to Watts, "a grace distinct from human striving". From my clinical experience, many clients suffer from living unnaturally, especially when their spiritual depth, or larger sense-of-self, waits undiscovered beneath social adaptations, or who they think they should be.
To me, this striving can also be motivated by our unchecked egoic identities that want power, control, acquisitions, and fulfillment of desires, beyond our limits, constraints, and circumstances, which will cause an unnecessary consortium of negative emotions such as strain, impatience, and frustration.
Wu-wei, or the state of effortless action, is the masterful art of living in congruence with the Tao. It is to be understood, according to Watts, as a "form of intelligence." Realizing wu-wei, but most importantly embodying it, this is the ultimate goal of spiritual practice.
Uncontrived. Spontaneous. Precise action that flows out of the present situation.
Lao Tzu likens the attainment of Wu-wei to the motion of planets revolving around the sun: "the planets effortlessly do this revolving without any sort of control, force, or attempt to revolve themselves, instead engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement." Perhaps our unique asset, the pre-frontal cortex, that part of the brain that developed reason, planning, imagining and higher functions like language, also estranged us from the rest of our biological heritage, leaving us to integrate the giant leap that advanced consciousness afforded us.
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If this speaks to you, I invite you to plunge into a most excellent primer on Taoism by Alan Watts called "Tao: The Watercourse Way", co-authored by Al Chung-liang Huang, who wrote the preface, afterword, contributed calligraphy, and helped organize the material for publication, as Watts died suddenly as it was near completion. |