2005-12-29
Understanding the Tao in a frightening world
I've been doing some thinking, about the Tao and about faith and belief and how we cope with life. And I have come to the conclusion that following the Tao could be a scary business. Not in the sense that one is expected to do any particular feat to demonstrate one's beliefs or the strength of one's convictions, as these concepts are actually alien to Tao ways of thinking.
No, I think that following the Tao could be scary because it makes us realise that we are on our own. We are responsible for our lives, the way we lead them and the paths we follow. There is no divine being guiding us, or looking out for us. If we make mistakes along the way, we have caused them and we are the ones who have to rectify them or deal with the consequences, or both.
And that is truly scary.
When 'bad' things happen to us or to those close to us, it seems natural to many of us to ask for help, even if this is an almost unconscious thought. As a result of our cultural education, we unconsciously accept that there is 'someone' or 'something' there, ultimately responsible for what happens to us. It may be our particular God; it may be Karma; it may be Synchronicity; it may be the way of the Universe itself. But whatever it is, we have an almost innate instinct to turn to this 'being' or 'occurrence' to ask for help or to blame for our problems.
But the Tao seems to take that 'safety net' away.
If there is no-one or no-thing looking out for us or who has designed our path in life for us; if we are no more important in the grand scheme of things than other animals, or plants, or other organism; if there are no 'meaningful coincidences' guiding our way, where does that leave us?
On our own.
All we are left with is being. We are born; we grow up; we live each day, studying, or working, or at leisure. Eventually we die. We will probably be remembered for some time, as most of us have family and friends who will remember us, if only in passing. We may have done great good during our lifetimes and we will be remembered fondly for that. We may have done great evil and we will be remembered for that also. We may have had children to carry on our gene pool. But do we get a reward after death for any of this? Or a punishment?
At a basic level, the answer would have to be no. We existed .... and then we didn’t. The World goes on turning whether we are here or not, either until the day our Galaxy has lived out its time, or until man or perhaps beings from another galaxy, blow it up.
When one is feeling low, there seems to be little comfort in the Tao. It will not promise us 'better things in the afterlife'; it will not comfort us and help us assure ourselves that there are better things waiting around the next corner. The Tao just is. We take from its philosophies ways to live our lives in order to get the best we can from them. We can learn how to live in the moment, to forgo the 'achievement culture', to have peace of mind. In this, the Tao can be unsurpassable as a path for a beneficial and (as much as we are able to control it) a happy life.
But it offers no comfort.
So, to follow the Tao will bring rewards, but these are personal, earthly rewards, beneficial to us and to others affected by our actions. But if we are looking for something to believe in; to justify or to simply explain the hardships we may suffer or the horrors that daily befall people in the World, then we will find it lacking.
I feel that it takes strength of mind to follow the Tao. It is not something to 'dip into' as so many of us do with 'New Age' concepts. It is not a way to comfort our depressed spirits. It can offer us peace of mind. But at a price.
The Tao is not a path that should be taken lightly, without understanding the consequences.
meyamind at 10:17 p.m.
