The basic tenets of the philosophy Taoism:

Morrie’s wave story In his interview with Ted Koppel, Morrie told the story of the male and female wave. Do you remember it? It highlights a major tenet of Taoism.

Morrie’s wave story “I heard a nice little story the other day,” Morrie says. He closes his eyes for a moment and I wait. “Okay. The story is about a little wave, bobbing along in the ocean, having a grand old time. He’s enjoying the wind and the fresh air— until he notices the other waves in front of him, crashing against the shore. “‘My God, this is terrible,’ the wave says. ‘Look what’s going to happen to me!’ “Then along comes another wave. It sees the first wave, looking grim, and it says to him, ‘Why do you look so sad?’ “The first wave says, ‘You don’t understand! We’re all going to crash! All of us waves are going to be nothing! Isn’t it terrible?’ “The second wave says, ‘No, you don’t understand. You’re not a wave, you’re part of the ocean.’”

TAOISM Taoism is both a religion and a philosophy We are going to focus on the philosophy for the sake of our search for meaning unit Taoism is attributed to Lao Tzu who wrote The Tao Te Ching He lived around 575 B.C. in China

THE TAO=THE WAY TAO-CHINESE WORD FOR THE WAY IT’S CONFUSING BECAUSE IT CAN NEVER BE FULLY EXPLAINED IN WORDS, BECAUSE WORDS LIKE EVERYTHING ELSE ARE IN A STATE OF FLUX

What is the tao(or the way)? “Nature has an awesome richness and complexity of process that seems to guide everything in a splendid balance.” Humans are part of this nature but we forget this. The point of Taoism is…to achieve oneness with “the way.” The person who is able to blend in with “the way,” who can detach himself from the worries of society, will be happy and healthy an live for a long time.”

Wu-wei Lao-Tzu taught that the best way to live according to the Tao was to follow a principle called wu-wei wu-wei=receptivity Wu-wei=to accept things as they come, to go with the flow, and to try not to assert yourself or change the natural course of things

More about wu-wei “A Taoist would consider that in the grand scheme of things, it really doesn’t matter whether or not you achieve your goals.” “The important thing is being part of the process of life. For this reason, Taoists love nature.” Nature works spontaneously (ex.-you don’t need to tell the grass to grow)

paradox A paradox is a statement that includes two seemingly opposite ideas that yield a new truth Example—the less you worry about death the longer you will live Taoism is full of paradoxes, like the one above

Yin-yang According to Taoism, everything is made up of opposites. YIN=female, the earth, water, and winter YANG=male, the sky, fire, and summer

Yin and Yang Yin and yang originally referred to the dark and sunlit sides of a mountain How does this image help us understand the concept of yin- yang?

How is everything made up of opposites? How is a single human being made up of male and female elements? According to Taoism, everything that exists is always in a state of becoming its opposite (life is turning into death and death into life)…

Wei wu-wei Wei wu-wei=action by non-action Non-violent protests are an example

SOURCE Most of the information in this slide show was adapted from the following source: Stevenson, Jay Ph.D. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Philosophy. New York: Alpha (a member of Penguin Group Inc.), 2005.