TAOISM

A recent comment about Taoism has prompted me to write about it. But not as one would expect. Personally, I think there is something profound and as yet unknown about this endemic Chinese religion, but I want to place known western ‘facts’ upon it.
Fundamental to the system are the forces of yin and yang, which form a balance between preservation and destruction. These form ch’i, a force that permeates everything from the body to the land.

Balance is fundamental to the Taoist understanding of everything.

Such a concept allows inclusion and compromise in a way western systems have not yet learnt. Everything is part of a whole and should be cherished. But more than this, the forces permeating the body can be channeled towards cures through acupuncture.
Whether acupuncture actually cures illness is irrelevant to this understanding of Taoism in western terms. The important thing is a believer thinks it works. Hence, even using the placebo effect, a 30% effect is almost guaranteed through the practice.

Forces also permeate the environment.

This is practiced as feng shui. Such forces must not be impeded. Hence, ancient Taoist societies were totally in tune with the environment. Such total balance meant that abundance and proper diet could be almost guaranteed.
Essential to Taoism is the I Ching – a system of divination, which, in reality was a form of questioning the ‘fates’ in regard to future action. In one sense, this is a classic case of therapy, guaranteeing that decisions are correct for the person.
Taoism could never have produced a thrusting, specialized world. But even by western standards, it produced a balanced society that was as one with itself and the environment – something else we have yet to learn.

© Anthony North, October 2007

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