Thursday, June 19, 2014

Tao vs. Zen

Okay, I know you hate the philosophy stuff, but bear with me for a few sentences as I am trying to give you an avenue towards spiritual ease.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Ah, this feels good!”  Of course you have; we all have.  Our perception of the world is just a series of sensory reactions to the here and now.  Our memory is the recollection of past experiences and the feelings we assign them.  This is Zen.

Have you ever gone to your spiritual rule book (Bible, Torah, Koran, Atheist’s Guide to Disruptive Activism, i.e. Mao’s Little Red Book) to assure yourself your behavior was consistent with the community ethos?  Of course you have; we all have.  Every now and then we are faced with a question of right or wrong and must refer to the moral authority. This is Tao.

“So Dale,” you ask, “what is the point of this inane drivel?”  It is to let you know there is always an escape from those niggling anxieties you carry around with you.  I know you do; we all do.

The secret to achieving peace of mind is to know which, Zen or Tao, to apply to the problem at hand.  Let me offer an example:  You’re feeling just a little overweight, but it is hot out.  Baskin Robbins is right there at the corner of “Should I” or “Shouldn’t I”.  What will you do?  Well, you could take the Zen approach; “I am going to pursue peace with my internal cravings and really enjoy every last lick of that Fudge Brownie ice cream.”  Or, you could do the Tao thing and let reason rule the day; “My personal improvement will be better served if I skip this egregious assault on my diet plan.”  Either choice is correct. Either path will result in gratification.  And the path you take will give no insight into the kind of person you are, except at that moment.  No one can judge you badly for taking the path that sets you right with your own sense of self.

We all suffer anxiety from time to time.  Those of us who have taken the time to know ourselves (introspection) can usually, and quite easily, identify the source of our unease and then formulate a plan to eliminate the irritant from our subconscious.  However, some people never master the technique of self-knowledge.  These people keep the big pharmaceutical companies and/or distilleries in business.

“So Dale,” you ask “what is the key to knowing one’s self?”  I don’t know; it has always come pretty naturally to me.  For those of faith, it might be the belief that no matter what happens in this world, an all forgiving God will take you onto his bosom at the end of life on earth.  Or, if you are a heathen, peace may come from the realization that the whole thing is a crap shoot and you and your life is just a product of the odds, i.e. “It wasn’t my fault; I was just on the wrong side of the numbers.”

Does it really matter?  I am a strict adherent to the philosophy of American theologian, Reinhold Niebuhr:

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
The courage to change the things I can,
And the wisdom to know the difference.

And this sums up my approach to the challenges of life:  If I can change it, I will; if I can’t, I will walk away; unless it’s a flat tire, then I’ll call the Auto Club!

If you chuckled at the punch line, you are Zen.  If you groaned, you are Tao.  Either way I got a reaction; and for a writer, that is Nirvana.





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