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TAOISM

Taoism can be defined as a philosophy of life, in which, according to the TAO, everything has a balance and nothing happening happens par hazard. Talking about Tao is very difficult and, at the same time, very easy; from these words, one can perceive the particularity and the mysticism of such a philosophy.

Taoism is said to have been existing since when the world was born; in China it originated more than 5000 years ago and founded itself in the ancient Chinese culture, presented through different forms and characterising Far Eastern art, life and spirituality. There are Taoist influences in Chan Buddhism (Zen), Traditional Chinese Medicine, politics and aesthetics.

Taoism was born of a long tradition of thinking originated from ancient Chinese philosophy with Laozi's spiritual writings. His most famous work of art is the Tao Te Ching (or Dao De Jing) and it is considered of huge cultural value: it covers different fields from philosophy to individual spirituality and interrelationship dynamics. The book has hidden instructions under the form of aphorisms or metaphors on the spiritual vision of the world, meditation and breathing.

The literal meaning of the term Tao is "way" or "path" and it can be a model to follow, a path to track. The search for the Tao is the search for the essential and requires the hard removal of the superfluous and preconceptions; the aim is to let the original to flow, freeing spontaneity. The discipline required to the Taoist is different from the Western one, sometimes stiff and limiting; it rather embodies the will to restrain from these latter aspects. The appeal for the essential and the original is meant as the urge for a modern life retrieving the direct interaction through actual reason, thus erasing misleading intermediations. In China, the search for wisdom is based mainly on harmony. According to Taoists, this latter is achieved by taming one's own heart and spirit, that is to say, by following the way of Nature.

In traditional Chinese Taoist philosophy, the Tao fundamentally represents the Universe. At the beginning of time, this latter was in a state called the Wu Chi (absence of polarity). At a certain point, two different sign polarities developed, representing the fundamental principles of the universe:

  • Yang, the positive and male principle, represented by white.
  • Yin, the negative and female principle, represented by black.

The two principles immediately started to interact, originating the supreme polarity or T'ai Chi. Yin and Yang have no moral meanings, such as good or evil, and are considered as complementary differentiating element.

Talking about Tao, one speaks about the One, the Infinite: it is the cosmic energy that makes up all the things in the universe, from the stone to the human being; it is the Great Mother of the world, as Laozi defined it in the Book of the Way and Virtue. Tao is so in everything existing, even in humankind, being the most intimate and thinnest energy that flows through everything and, once condensed, it forms matter: it is pure energy.
Taoism teaches that God has to be sought inside of one's self and inside of every thing that makes up the multiform world man is part of, since the cosmos and the universe are God itself and are the active expressions of divine essence. Tao is nature, breathing, life in every thing. Divinity has to be searched for in trees, in water flowing, in leaves rustling; it can be sensed while contemplating immensity and silence at the peak of a mountain. It does not act but it acts perennially, combining itself so that to form everything that is being and existing. In fact, God is energy and it cannot be conceived or known by man, it does not speaks or communicates, but its eternity corresponds to the eternity of life itself, in its perpetual cycles. The God of Taoism is a worldwide immanent, eternal and unchangeable energy.

Tao is simply:

“Nothing has grip on one's body when the spirit is not bothered. Nothing can hurt the wise man, wrapped in the integrity of his nature and protected by his spirit freedom.“

Lao Tze

 

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