The way

"The way that can be spoken (understood) is not the eternal way." Thus begins the Tao Te Ching.

The whole universe is in unity, and the way to tap into that harmony is to look beyond the little tasks and concerns in life and to go with the flow. Life, death, success, failure, all merge into the same thing in the greater picture. Taoism is a wonderful philosophy, but not really a way of life. It promotes passivity and detachment, which is great as a relief from daily life, but not so great for practicality. But then, Taoism isn't about practicality, is it? The thing is, I would not be able to accept Taoism as a religion or a way of life, but I can totally understand it as a philosophy.

My 2nd year Taoism course was probably one of the best courses I took in university. Imagine a class where all you do is listen to the professor read a passage, then to think and meditate upon it. How often do we get a chance to just sit and think? But sometimes I find that if I think too much inwardly, I loose the connection between my mental/spiritual self and my physical self. That's when I can look in the mirror and really fail to see how that person could be me. Or when I look at my hands and fail to grasp how I can make my fingers move just by thinking. Then I realize that my past has no tangible value, and that my future is totally unknown, and that the present is all I know. I usually stop myself before I go too far down that path, because it actually gets a bit scary.

Why this topic? My brother's blog post on Nov 11
(see TingKong -> )