Navigational Error
Originally posted by HighDefinitionFilms
How does Taoism... and the general idea of thought-creating-reality and self-actualization through intention and the whole Secret and Law Of
Attraction thing...
I'm afraid you, or perhaps Dr. Wayne W. Dyer, have misunderstood Tao.
Tao has absolutely nothing to do with creating or manipulating reality through thought. Taoists accept the world as it is. Tao is about recognizing
movements, trends and currents in the world around us and making use of them to help us achieve what we want out of life and avoid what we don't.
One who follows Tao is like the captain of a sailing ship. He has to get his vessel from Point A to Point B as quickly and efficiently as he can. If
he just went full speed ahead in a straight line, he might be blown off course by winds, be carried off course by currents, ground his keel against
hidden rocks or suffer any of a variety of other calamities. To reach B from A, the captain has to read the winds, the currents and the tides. He must
know the location of reefs and other hazards. He must then steer his ship so as to take all these things into account. If he is skilful, he is likely
to achieve his intention quickly and with a minimum of trouble. In the same way, one who follows Tao seeks, and if he is skilful often finds, a way to
attain his ends with a minimum of fuss and bother by navigating the winds and currents of life and avoiding the reefs and shoals.
But notice that however skilled our ship's captain may be, a successful voyage from A to B is never guaranteed. A hurricane may blow up and smash his
vessel to bits; the charts he depends on may be faulty, leading him to founder on some reef or shoal; the winds may fail, becalming him, so that his
stores run out before he can reach his objective; the crew may mutiny and throw him overboard. In a similar way, a Taoist, however good he may be at
interpreting the Tao, may yet fail in his objects. Reality is always more powerful than any individual, however much of a Taoist he may be.
Taoism presupposes an external reality that we can alter only in its minor details. It is not a formula for making wishes come
true.* * *
These ideas are powerful defenses against the seeming futility of today's life and society... they are really empowering, and they make a
person much less susecptible to groupthink and materalism and general herd mentality.
Taoism offers no defence against the 'seeming futility' of life. It is not concerned with final ends; it is altogether provisional.
This is the very essence of Tao.
Pardon me for speaking so frankly, but when you speak of 'defences against futility', of antidotes to 'groupthink and materialism' and 'herd
mentallity', I seem to detect some resentment at life for not being just the way you want it and giving you everything you want. Of course we all
strive to be happy and to get what we want; that is human nature. But - and again, this is the essence of Tao - we succeed best when we accept the
world as it really is, not when we reject and deny reality because it will not yield up all that we desire.
* * *
Is Taoism, and the various permutations of its' core ideas, a true antidote to the brainwashing we all fear is
or may be happening?
When you have lived the Tao long enough to begin to understand it, you will be able to formulate your own answer to this question.
* * *
"Destiny is determined by Freewill" - T Patrick Murray
It is not. In this, as in much else, modern science and Tao are in agreement. There is no such thing as free will, except in the most provisional
sense. We live in a deterministic universe.
[edit on 20-12-2007 by Astyanax]