Yang and Snowpocaplyse

"There is a long standing rumor that spring is the time of renewal, but that's only if you ignore the depressing clutter and din of the season. All that flowering and budding and birthing - the messy youthfulness of Spring actually verges on SQUALOR. Spring is too busy, too full of itself, too much like a 20-year-old to be the best time for reflection, re-grouping, and starting fresh. For that, you need December." 

 ~ Vivian Swift:

The Alternatives

The more appropriate meaning of Tao is the “alternatives,” which refer to the eternal, ultimate reality (Lao Tzu, Chap. 16 & 25), or all alternative relations or patterns governing the operation of the universe and people’s interaction with nature and with one another. This novel interpretation of Tao is preferred by this author for three reasons. It is consonant with the term’s original meanings in Chinese language. In addition to the “path” or the “way,” the term Tao also connotes “choice(s),” “connection(s),” “method(s),” among others . . . Furthermore, this translation can better epitomize the profuse Taoist notions, which include two intrinsically related themes. The first one is “Reversal is the movement of Tao” (Lao Tzu, Chap. 40). For example, the development and transformation of the universe can be characterized as the two complementary, interdependent phases of Yin and Yang, alternating in space and time. The other Taoist central idea maintains that “Weakness is the usage of Tao” (Lao Tzu, Chap. 40). The best embodiment of this axiom is water. People may obtain the cognizance of Tao by contemplating water. The highest good is like water, not only because water is good at benefiting the myriad creatures, but also because water, which is nurturing, soft, weak and flexible, can vanquish hard and strong obstacles by selecting alternatives to reach its goals. As water does not compete, nobody can compete with it (Lao Tzu, Chap. 8 & 78).

Understanding the universal system has three implications for comprehending social actions: 

(1) Everything in the universe, including people’s cognition and actions, is constantly involved in changing and developmental processes, interacting with one another.

(2) Different actions result from the actor’s different amounts of Te, or the understanding of the alternatives in the situation, because people’s choices of actions or perceptions in the world are fettered by their knowledge of Tao that regulates the nature and people.

(3) An individual can learn and develop Te only when he or she is exposed to Tao, because only Tao, which manifests as more inclusive and alternative ways of perceiving the self, others and situations, can teach the person the meanings of Te. An individual who intends to change others’ actions or perceptions must understand Tao, or comprehend how Tao operates in the universe, including all alternative factors (social, natural, external, psychological, etc.) that interact with the others, to obtain real freedom and consonance in the interaction.

How to Overcome without Fighting: An Introduction to The Taoist Approach to Conflict 

by Key Sun

The Way: Jesus and Chuang-tzu

"How does it come about that the biblical God has something in common with Chuang-tzu’s Way? There are two reasons. First, neither of them tries to know the Source of all things, that is, God or the Way, by means of reason. Instead, they try to realize the Source with their whole body and mind by becoming a nothingness, by becoming free from attachment to things, and by trying to live in perfect accord with the 'working' of the Source. Second, both of them deny the argument from causation to God advocated by Greek philosophy. Instead of trying to deduce God’s existence and essence by appealing to a law of cause-and effect, they resort to “meta-ethical leaps” into nothingness and self-liberation in order to live in the midst of the 'workings' of the Source, in order to know (yãdã) the Way and God. As a result, unlike Lao-tzu, Chuang-tzu regards the Way as an inner moving force, and all things in this universe as dynamic beings in motion. Likewise, the biblical God as a 'meta-dynamism,' infinitely transcending every kind of dynamic motion. He is in essence a 'God at work' ... The Way is the moving force within us. In the Christian sense of the word, the Way is the moving force of the Incarnate Son of God. He 'has come to live within us' who are traveling with him essentially."

~ From "Chuang-tzu’s Way to Jesus Christ as the Way" by KADOWAKI Kakichi

Storms

"Group process evolves naturally. It is self-regulating. Do not interfere. It will work itself out. Efforts to control process usually fail. Either they block process or make it chaotic. Learn to trust what is happening. If there is silence, let it grow; something will emerge. If there is a storm, let it rage; it will resolve itself into calm."  

From The Tao of Leadership Chapter 58, by John Heider

"When a nation is ruled with a light touch, people lead simple lives.
When a government is harsh and demanding, 
people will spend their time trying to outsmart it.
Happiness is rooted in misery, and misery lurks beneath all joy.
Who knows what could happen tomorrow?
Everything is relative; what's considered proper today may become improper.
Correct appearances may hide dishonesty and sinfulness.
No wonder so many people get confused.
The Masters have sharp minds, not sharp tongues.
They are austere, but never judgmental.
They are straightforward, but not provocative.
They are brilliant, but not flashy." 

-  Translated by Ron Hogan, Chapter 58 

The Wind Ran Out of Breath 

Late that day Jesus said to them, “Let’s go across to the other side.” They took him in the boat as he was. Other boats came along. A huge storm came up. Waves poured into the boat, threatening to sink it. And Jesus was in the stern, head on a pillow, sleeping! They roused him, saying, “Teacher, is it nothing to you that we’re going down?"

Awake now, he told the wind to pipe down and said to the sea, “Quiet! Settle down!” The wind ran out of breath; the sea became smooth as glass. Jesus reprimanded the disciples: “Why are you such cowards? Don’t you have any faith at all?” 

- Mark 4:35-40, The Message

Be Still

"To the Taoist, the virtue suggested by the Mountain was called Keeping Still. The Master said: 'Composure straightens out one’s inner life; righteousness will square one’s external life.' In this way, the Mountain offers us a lesson about sameness as we connect with te and move deeper into the changing landscape. Our need to project past experience upon each event can cause a type of resistance, or turbulence in the great river of life. .Be open, that is all. '" 

~ Ken The Mountain, Way of Tao

"Be still. Follow your inner wisdom. In order to know your inner wisdom, you have to be still. The leader who knows how to be still and feel deeply will probably be effective. But the teacher who chatters and boasts and tries to impress the group has no center and carries little weight" 

~ The Tao of Leadership by John Heider

Therefore, the Lord God,
    the holy one of Israel, says:
In return and rest you will be saved;
    quietness and trust will be your strength

~ Isaiah 30:15 CEV

Tao and the Question of God

 For many, the issues of Religion and God are co-mingled to the point of being simmered down to the question: Does God exist? Many phrase this as a black or white question with definite answers: God either does or doesn’t exist. If you are an atheist, then God doesn’t exist; if you practice a religion, then God exists relative to your belief structure. Taoism offers the third path: Skip the question! The question of God’s existence is irrelevant. God could or could not exist, and either state doesn’t change the way we lead our lives. Our lives are expressions of action between ourselves and the universe. To respect our surrounding environment is a furthering of respect to ourselves. This manner of living doesn’t change regardless of the nature of God. This doesn’t make a Taoist Godless; rather a Taoist considers God a wonderful question to meditate against (much like sharpening a knife against a rock) but to put to the side when dealing with daily concerns. This is where the Personal Tao steps into the equation. If a person has faith in a higher being (if they know the expression of their life matters relative to this belief) then it’s acceptable to live to those beliefs. The point where belief becomes unacceptable is upon forcing faith unto someone else or even oneself. Forcing a view typically comes out of an unsurity of faith. Forcing belief is the attempt to keep faith thru a process of action and subjugation. Such actions flow against finding a true Personal Tao.

~ from A Personal Tao

Counter-Cultural Morality

Especially in our present society we need a countercultural morality.  That requires taking very seriously our responsibility to live rightly and a strong sense that “right” is very different from “wrong.” But it requires an equally strong skepticism about rules that specify do’s and don’ts.  It calls for a radically non-legalistic morality, one that places the well-being of the whole created order above any rules and regulations. I have learned this from Jesus and Paul.  I do not know of better, or even, equally good, teachers, but I know that one can learn much the same lesson in other traditions.  I believe that a sustainable civilization will need to encourage the kind of ethical thinking that produced the countercultural reality of the pre-Constantinian church.  That will be quite different from those later churches that called people to serve themselves and became the upholders of conventional morality.

~John Cobb, Five Foundations for a New Civilization

Moral is often used as a synonym for ethical. That’s not the sense in which it is used here, in “The Tao is good but not moral.” Here, moral means rule-based.

Thus morality will refer to any codified description of good behavior through laws or ideology, religious or secular. I’ll leave “good behavior” undefined, but I will say that (1) being good necessarily entails being compassionate, and (2) you know damn well what it means to be good. ...

From the Tao Te Ching (translated by Ron Hogan),

Get rid of morality.
People will respect each other
and do what’s right.

Thus a big problem arises when a society holds up a particular morality as the definition of goodness. For those aiming to do good, it is needless. For those aiming to do harm, it can be employed to do harm under the guise of doing good. And people are easily fooled by it.

~ The Tao is good but not moral