Taoist Thought: Returning to Original Self

Humanity’s unique dilemmaWe humans are like bees with huge brains. This combination of sociability and intelligence accounts for the advantages and disadvantages we face in life, especially in civilization. Naturally, we’d like to lessen the disadvantages, if possible. The dilemma here is the ironic fact that our unique cognitive advantage is also our foremost disadvantage! Chapter 71 pinpoints this quandary… Realizing I don’t know is better; Not knowing this knowing is disease. What’s more, chapter 1 begins by pointing out the overall reason we’re in this pickle… The way possible to think, runs counter to the constant way. The name possible to express runs counter to the constant name.Our naming and thinking creates the wealth of knowledge we value so highly. Yet, our naming and thinking also lock us into beliefs that pigeonhole the human experience. The certainty of belief traps us into circular thinking and to dwelling on that which is beyond our control. Unable to truly acknowledge that we actually don’t know, thought tends to run away with itself, firing up emotions, which soon snowball into overreaction. All this existential chaos overwhelms any innate impartiality we were born with… our original self. Simply put, lacking sufficient impartiality, thought readily believes itself, which tilts our lives out of balance.Solving this dilemmaThe Tao Te Ching is singular in its attempt to counter-balance cultural “common sense” and knowledge. Written long ago and so succinctly, it naturally invites commentary, contemporary with the times.Accordingly, Taoist Thought helps counteract the disease of pigheaded certainty by linking up real world circumstances with Taoist principles. Here, the aim is to return to the impartial viewpoint we were born with. Sure, we may not cure the disease, but we can mitigate its most destructive influences by perceiving a reality beyond knowledge itself.Taoist Thought’s 288 short observations help soften thought’s pigheaded certainty by addressing various aspects of daily life from a Taoist point of view. Simply read one short essay every few days and sleep on it. Drawing this process out over a few years gives your mind a better chance to perceive life impartially beyond its belief-bound box. Even so, reading this book is plainly not a once-and-done deal. Much redundant reviewing is essential. Indeed, redundancy is the secret.The payoff with this approach isn't answers. It's a gradual unlearning and reframing that help you return to seeing life more clearly — back to the impartial self that was there before the cultural conditioning buried it with your culture’s stories. Read more