Taoism as Philosophy for Modernity

Forget about all those Stoics.

There’s been a huge resurgence of Stoicism in the zeitgeist recently: from Tim Ferriss’s writings and podcast to Ryan Holiday’s bestseller The Daily Stoic. This makes sense from the point of view of modernity.

Stoicism is all about discipline and retaking control of your life from the constant onslaught of entertainment and addiction. It’s a methodology to get things done and make sure you aren’t wasting your life.

But you don’t need to wake up at 4 am, get a workout in, meditate, and journal all before you eat breakfast at 6 am to live a fulfilling life. And please stop reading 100 books a year.

Taoism and Stoicism make remarkably similar points at times, especially when it comes to worrying about trivial things, like what others think of you. It makes sense that many entrepreneur types flocked to these teachings.

I won’t spend much more time on Stoicism. It is a super useful framework. I wouldn’t have been able to write 15 books without a rigid and disciplined writing routine and shaking off negative reviews and people who said I was crazy.

This article will show you why Taoism might be the better ancient philosophy to bring to the modern world. It encompasses many of the same principles as the Stoics but with some added bonuses.

My History with Taoism

When I first stopped believing in the religion I was brought up in (Christianity), I did what many people do. I flailed about looking for some other philosophy, religion, or guidance at all.

Somehow, I found Taoism. It resonated with me, and the more I read writings by ancient and modern Taoists, the more I identified with it. I loved that it didn’t require faith belief. You could ponder the teachings and come to your own conclusion.

This period of my life lasted around ten years. I no longer identify as Taoist in the slightest, but many of the teachings are still the types of things I think and write about to this day.

Almost all of my most popular articles on Medium are a direct descendant of thinking about Taoist teachings.

What is Taoism?

This is not an easy question to answer. There is a religious form of Taoism, but I’m using the term here to refer to the philosophy.

Roughly, Taoism is based on the 81 “poems” that make up the Tao Te Ching, written sometime around 2500 years ago. Tao means “path” or “way,” and so Taoism is basically following the way set out by the Tao Te Ching.

Almost no one calls these 81 aphorisms “poems,” but I’m not sure how else to describe them. The point is to elucidate something that cannot be explained in words by analogy and symbolism.

You might already see why I connected so well with this. I’m a firm believer in the power of literature and poetry to get at the subconscious and help us understand and realize things that could not be merely described to us.

Some of the basic ideas are paradoxical on purpose: Yin and Yang. Everything has both a good and bad side to it, even if you can’t see it. Thus, it’s a dualistic philosophy. Yet everything is connected and the same at some fundamental level (the Tao), and so it’s anti-dualistic.

Recently, I described how to find the good in bad moments of your life in Gratitude Journaling for Misanthropes. This type of thinking comes directly from my time spent reflecting on Yin/Yang principles.

The more esoteric points of Taoism are not important for the discussion in this article.

Taoist Philosophy of Life

One of the main concepts of Taoism is wu wei, which roughly means action without intention. Taoism emphasizes that life is unpredictable and random.

The way to be happiest is to let go of the idea that you need to do very specific things for fulfillment. Some people might think this means to be spontaneous, frivolous, and irresponsible.

It does not mean any of those things.

It’s more like rolling with the punches no matter what comes your way. You can have goals, but when hiccups come and interrupt you, use these to your advantage along the way. Don’t get upset just because it’s turning out differently than what you expected.

Water is one of the most common symbols in the Tao Te Ching.

If you set a goal, think of achieving the goal like making it to the end of the river. You can follow the natural flow of the water, or you can fight back and forth against the flow. You might even get out of the river to try to take a shortcut across the land.

You’ll get there in all these cases, but the one that will cause you the least unhappiness and struggle is to go with the flow. When you can see clearly where it’s going, you can even lean into it and paddle along with the river.

As you see, this is different than laziness and inaction.

Taoism isn’t about doing nothing and letting things happen to you. It’s about taking action that makes sense in the context of your life.

Life isn’t about the final destination. It’s about the journey. If there’s a detour along the way to achieving your goal, then enjoy it. Lean into that detour. Don’t get upset because it wasn’t what you expected.

This idea is one of the key ones that drew me in initially.

We don’t have to follow some external teachings even though the Tao Te Ching exists as guidance. We live our own lives. The Tao is in us and constantly changing. By acting in accordance with it, we are allowed to be free from the constant pressure put on us by outside forces: society, parents, even our own made-up goals.

Nothing is permanent

Another key concept is that nothing is permanent. The only thing that doesn’t change is that everything is changing all the time.

Accepting this concept is very difficult. In the modern world, we put almost all our self-worth and value into impermanent things. On the one side are inanimate objects: cars, houses, phones, our status in our job. These things can all be taken from us in an instant due to random forces outside our control.

On the other side of the spectrum are relationships, people, pets, living beings that give our lives meaning. These, too, will all end someday.

Even Buddhism teaches this as a key component of human suffering. I think the teachings are slightly different, though. Buddhism says that we shouldn’t attach so much importance to impermanent things.

Taoism says we can and should attach meaning and importance to them. We should enjoy them. It’s what makes life worth living. We just shouldn’t mourn (too much) the loss of something we knew we’d lose from the start.

Find the good in it when it’s gone. Be grateful it existed in the first place.

But don’t spend too much time looking forward to something that might not happen or looking back at something that no longer exists. You’ll miss your whole life before you know it this way. The now is what matters.

This impermanence is what gives life meaning and should also give us urgency in going out and experiencing all that there is to experience. If we live as if there is infinite time with all these impermanent things, then that’s how we experience real loss and regret.

Our Reactions Are Everything

Often, when we’re caught up in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget that our reactions are everything. We start to think that things themselves have emotional charges to them.

A Twitter argument is just a bunch of 0’s and 1’s on a computer server somewhere. It doesn’t mean anything until you react to it. It exists, and you never have to react to it.

So much of our lives are now filled with outrage at manufactured controversies designed to rile us up. It’s freeing to get to a place of true understanding of this. Anything you see or experience just is what it is. Your reaction could always be happiness or amusement.

Taoism is full of stories to teach these ideas. One of the foundational stories is of three people tasting a pot of vinegar.

The first is Confucian. They taste the sour nature and think rules and regulations are needed to keep people in line. That person will spend their whole life unhappy as they try to control the uncontrollable.

The second is Buddhism. They taste bitterness. They understand that this suffering can only be eliminated by escaping the material world and entering Nirvana. They will spend their life trying to achieve the unachievable: true enlightenment.

The third is Taoist. They smile. Vinegar is a part of nature. It is what it is. There is no need to attach too much emotional response to it. There’s a range of flavors and experiences in nature. All can be enjoyed in their own way.

Final Thoughts

There’s obviously a lot of variation of thought on a tradition as old as Taoism. I do not mean this to be comprehensive or even accurate to any particular strain of Taoism. It’s how I’ve come to understand a few of the many teachings.

I also don’t mean to be disparaging to any other religion or school of thought mentioned. The beginning jab at Stoicism is more of a tongue-in-cheek remark considering how prominently that ancient philosophy is featured in modern thought leaders, yet no one seems to talk about Taoism.

Hopefully, this prompts some people to check out some more teachings. I think many of the ideas are beneficial in this strange time of overstimulation and social media.