Having read the Tao Te Ching, am unable to see it as a negative. It is far more like an unseen river that moves us along, one way or another, dependent on our actions or lack there of. It seems very much an active partner in our search for meaning.
Thanks as always for sharing your readings and for the latest with the concept of Wuwei! Somehow it makes me think of the transmission of tea practice, where some preferring it to be mostly non-verbal since there're no words/ concepts to wrestle with right nor wrong, to be argued against, agreed upon or refuted.
FYI Taoism Reimagined's recent post may be a useful resource too - Essentially, Wuwei is sometimes misconstrued as non action but it's more about the harmony between nature and humans. It's more of an effortless action, in alignment and in accordance to the flow of nature: https://taoismreimagined.substack.com/p/the-wisdom-of-wu-wei
Thanks for your comment and reading suggestion. Yes, the translation by "non-action" is not ideal, as is perhaps any other translation. Your comment made me think again about what we mean by "nature". I think Taosim's view of nature has little to do with our current understanding of it. With some colleagues, we wrote the following paper on the meaning of the concept of nature in Asian cultures and thought. It is an old paper, but: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01186-5
Having read the Tao Te Ching, am unable to see it as a negative. It is far more like an unseen river that moves us along, one way or another, dependent on our actions or lack there of. It seems very much an active partner in our search for meaning.
I agree with you. In this text, negations seem to be part of a creative process that is affirmative in nature.
Thank You.
Thanks for your comments. You probably don't know this, but they help me think further...
Your writings help me crystalize my thoughts on the subject, so it works both ways, just differently or maybe not.
Thanks as always for sharing your readings and for the latest with the concept of Wuwei! Somehow it makes me think of the transmission of tea practice, where some preferring it to be mostly non-verbal since there're no words/ concepts to wrestle with right nor wrong, to be argued against, agreed upon or refuted.
FYI Taoism Reimagined's recent post may be a useful resource too - Essentially, Wuwei is sometimes misconstrued as non action but it's more about the harmony between nature and humans. It's more of an effortless action, in alignment and in accordance to the flow of nature: https://taoismreimagined.substack.com/p/the-wisdom-of-wu-wei
Thanks for your comment and reading suggestion. Yes, the translation by "non-action" is not ideal, as is perhaps any other translation. Your comment made me think again about what we mean by "nature". I think Taosim's view of nature has little to do with our current understanding of it. With some colleagues, we wrote the following paper on the meaning of the concept of nature in Asian cultures and thought. It is an old paper, but: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-022-01186-5
Thanks very much for sharing your paper! I am saving it and will read with interest.
You're welcome!