Important Lessons from Lao Tzu and Ancient Chinese Philosophy
Tao or “The Way” is the end and beginning of the world, of something and nothing, a path to life and order of nature.
If you are like me then you must have realized how HARD it is to understand the meaning behind the language of Taoism.
If your face resembles anything like this ^ after reading the first statement then trust me we are on the same boat. I’m just as confuzzled as everyone else.
However, I bought my first translation of the Tao Te Ching and started chipping away at analyzing the ancient writings and trying to understand the deep meaning behind each message. What I found was a gold mine!
Taoism is the philosophy describing the meaning of life and how to live virtuously.
(AKA a gold mine of wisdom and knowledge on how to live a better life!)
The Tao Te Ching is the original text written by the somewhat mythical Lao Tzu (translated to The Old Teacher), the founder of the Taoist philosophy.
His existence is still questionable but Lao Tzu is revered as a Chinese scholar who served the Chou dynasty until he decided to leave court. As he was passing the country’s borders he was stopped by the gatekeeper who told him to record all his wisdom before he left, that was the birth of Taoism. Lao Tzu sadly was never heard from again.
The name Taoism comes from Tao which means “The Way.” This mainly narrates the idea of “a path of life” or “order of nature” that is always in constant motion and flux.
Paradoxically talking about the The Way and trying to define it’s meaning takes away from our understanding of it’s entirety. Hmm that sounds really confusing. It’s basically like the more you think you know, the less you actually know.
Yikes I definitely had to read that multiple times for it to sink in. Tao is a force that must be felt with our senses, it is outside the constraints of language and a state of mind which allows us to unlock the true wisdom of the universe.
Imagine The Way (Tao) is like a flowing river.
The Way is like this river, it hold the essence of life which is constantly flowing from one state to another. You are a singular pebble in this cosmic flow of water which appears to you as your objective reality.
It is an experience that moves through your body and soul, you cannot hold it just like you cannot hold water but you feel it as it happens to you.
As you understand how to let go and become part of The Way which is ever-flowing , the closer you will be to understanding the order of nature and yourself. It cannot be described because definitions cage The Way much like a dam blocks a river. Once it is defined you lose the understanding of The Way as whole because you can no longer feel the river flowing past the dam.
Quote #1 : The Way
The Way that can be articulately described
is not the Unchanging Way.
The name that can be said out loud
is not the Unchanging Name.
With your mouth unopened, and things left undefined
you stand at the beginning of the universe.
This is a powerful quote which describes what I meant when explaining The Way with the river analogy.
My interpretation: Not defining The Way will lead you to the understanding of all things, how everything began and the true appearance of nature.
My life before Lao Tzu’s philosophy.
Our brains our constantly working, thinking about most things in relation to cause and effect.
Meaning, most decisions I make I can rationalize why it happened. This means I am splitting a bigger event and breaking it down into small pieces. Separating from the The Way by taking apart the flow of life.
For example, I pull a muscle and assume it’s because of my workout from the day before. BUT according to The Way everything is just one singular motion of life. Life is a flow of experiences and I can choose to be a stubborn rock that continuously keeps pushing back against the current (even though eventually the rock will always lose) or let myself become a gentle leaf that rides the flow of the tides. This AHA moment has made me become more open-minded to life and become more calm/serene.
I always struggled with anxiety and controlling me emotions, it got to the point that I would have frequent panic attacks. I HATED this feeling and so accepting wisdom from this philosophy has helped me overcome that.
It doesn’t mean I will remain a passive outsider in life, I will still forge my own pathway to success but I will achieve my goals with inner harmony.
So…why do I care about this philosophy so much?
So basically I’m a really lost human being who doesn’t know much about herself yet. I want to put myself on the path to find inner peace.
I want to go from unshaped mound of clay to well defined piece of mold that knows its function, strengths and weaknesses, purpose and most of all, acceptance of its original form.
There is ALOT I don’t know about myself or the world and I want to take the first steps to discover myself. Taoism can be a tool used in many different ways and I want to leverage the wisdom to unlock hidden truths about myself and the world.
Quote #2: Finding myself
Who can gradually clarify muddy water with tranquility?
Who can gradually bring life into
the complacent with activity?
Those who care for The Way
as they would a child carried on their back.
My interpretation: Only a person who inherently lives according to The Way can find themselves approaching inner harmony and clearing their conscious of all negativity.
My journey towards The Way:
So after gaining all this knowledge on Taoism, I have started conducting my life in a manner that has helped me become more peaceful and serene.
- Reading the Tao Te Ching to gain more insight into the hidden wisdom behind all the passages.
- Meditating, this is the ULTIMATE life hack. It gives you the ability to focus on just yourself and understand your complexity as a being from the inside out.
- Becoming more open minded towards the experiences life gives, operating under the belief that every instance in time has something that can be gained and lost. Time itself is lost while I can learn and age through the teachings gained from every experience.
Meditation is a superpower!
I have grown up in household where all of my family practices meditation for religious reasons. I never really understood why meditation was so important until now. It’s the single best practice towards becoming introspective, focused, calm and mindful. It’s a healthy exercise for your brain + body and it changed my life.
How to start meditating today:
- Clear 10 mins out of your day to sit in silence and focus on controlling your breath.
- Use guided meditation such as headspace or calm
- Try clearing your mind of all distractions by finding a singular focus and watching how your thoughts appear and shutting them down.
*Warning* These are just some of my practices however there are many more methods to meditating. DON’T be discouraged if it is very hard at first, thats totally normal, keep working on it everyday and you’ll definitely improve :)
How can you incorporate Taoism in your daily life?
- Be present in the moment, don’t resist life but let yourself flow with it’s current and reflect on what is most impactful.
- Practice virtue by exhibiting compassion for others, living in moderation and being humble.
- Evoke harmony by living a healthy balanced life and meditating.
- Be honest with oneself.
- Find a purpose in life that will help guide you on The Way
The importance of Yin and Yang
In Taoism the concept of oneness means that everything is part of the same whole. Everything begins and ends with the wholeness of nature. Everything (including you!) is linked together with universe.
My religion is Hinduism and so I agree with the concept of connecting oneself with the wavelength of the universe to unlock true inner harmony within you. The best practice is meditation, unleashing a powerful focused mind which can enable a person to truly grasp the miracles in nature.
The Yin Yang represents is the symbol of harmony. It describes the importance of opposites to keep life balanced and state of constant flow with time.
For example: Night & Day, Male & Female, Sun & Moon.
Quote #3 : The Ying Yang in Taoism
When people see things as beautiful,
ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
evil is created.
My interpretation: All parts of life have an equal opposite counterpart that keeps nature in balance. This is true down to the laws of physics where even small particles have corresponding anti-particles.
The Ch’i is another vital part of this philosophy. It is described as the underlying energy or force beneath all interactions of matter. It creates the division between Yin Yang and develops into the matter itself. It’s a flow of energy, once controlled can be harnessed to become One with nature itself.
Taoism and Quantum Mechanics
(I recommend having a basic understanding of superposition before reading this part)
I came across Prof. Shantena Augusto Sabbadin’s videos discussing the parallels between the description of reality in the Tao Te Ching and quantum physics. This. Blew. Me. Away.
The first verse from the Tao Te Ching ultimately states that The Way that is defined is not the True Way. Once you hold onto one subset of assumptions of reality, you miss the rest of the components.
Our subjective reasoning is just one representation of reality in an instance of time while objective reality is unbound and has infinite many possibilities.
What this means is when we name something, we are defining it and giving it a purpose. It has a set of parameters that limit it’s functionality and description in our subjective reality. There is a spilt from The Way and the world appears as different parts.
This describes the classical world, objects appear once we separate from The Way and give definition to matter which is intrinsically all part of one whole.
Without a name you don’t experience boundaries, there is no difference between objective and subjective reality, everything is one continuum of The Way.
We cannot live without creating a split between realities from The Way because we observe and give meaning to life around us. Hence, we remain in a classical world. However, if we are able to let go of desires and become one with The Way, we can understand reality in it’s true infinite form.
The analogy you want to think about is the superposition phenomenon in quantum mechanics.
If this whole part was just a bunch of mumbo jumbo don’t even worry about it. I’ll list my key takeaways below!
The most important information to remember:
- Focus on understanding yourself
- Practice living by virtue
- Honesty is critical for achieving inner harmony
- Find a purpose in life which can help you live life by The Way
- Meditation is a superpower skill
Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed learning about this new topic. I also write other articles on quantum computing, nanotech and other interesting technologies!
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