Session Notes
Opening Question
The session opened with the central question: how does one practice Taoism? To approach this, we needed to first understand two key concepts – non-action (or actionless activity) and centeredness. The goal was to walk away with at least some practical sense of what living in alignment with the Tao might actually look like.
We began by exploring centeredness and the metaphor of the circle that appears throughout the text. Different translations offered different interpretations – some used “center of the circle,” others “simplicity,” “the uncarved block,” or “self-same.” The image that emerged was of the eye of a tornado, where all the commotion of the universe happens around you while you remain equanimous and observant. The circle allows for movement and return – you’re always returning but going nowhere. The “uncarved block” emerged as a central symbol – fullness and emptiness simultaneously, containing all potential shapes while remaining uncarved.
The discussion turned to the paradox of non-action and the critique of knowledge. The text repeatedly insists on abandoning knowledge, remaining unknowing, which connected powerfully to Socrates and his claim that “all I know is that I know nothing.” We explored how those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know – yet Socrates teaches without telling people anything, using questions to guide them to their own understanding. This pointed toward a way of teaching from behind, putting oneself below rather than above, guiding without the people feeling led. The political dimension became clear: seeking to control creates the dualistic categories of good and bad, teacher and student, and your entire being becomes contingent on something outside yourself. True influence happens by not controlling, by being in harmony with the Tao. The metaphor of the athlete helped us approach this – a good athlete enters a state where the right movement happens effortlessly, without interference of conscious will. Being “in the way” requires the conscious will to drop out. The athlete knows what to do, but isn’t accessing that knowledge via conscious will when the time comes to perform.
We then turned toward desire. We wrestled with desire and accumulation, particularly around preparing for death. Since the “old masters” are not vexed by death or by loss at all, death seemed a good entry point into trying to understand how desire intersects with the Tao. The text insists that contentment comes from realizing that you already have everything you need. This was a bit reminiscent of Plotinus’ claim that we all have access to “The One”, and the only thing preventing contemplation of The One is ourselves. We discussed how capitalism and Western thinking push constant expansion, achievement, optimization, and “actualization”, while the Tao suggests a loose grip on desire wholesale. We determined that being in the Tao doesn’t demand that we live the life of an ascetic or to deny ourselves things, but is more about the nature of our relationships to what we have and what we desire. The master is unbothered by loss because the space between them and death is so small, so what is it about death that informs their relationship to things and their desires in general?
Throughout the conversation, the Tao emerged as a sort of duality guide – understanding that things are born from their opposites, that oftentimes the nature of duality is counter-intuitive: the soft overcomes the hard, that if you want to shrink something you must first let it expand. Trying to force outcomes often creates the opposite effect, like trying to fall asleep by commanding yourself to sleep – or like an athlete breaking their flow state to think about how they are to perform an action and at what precise moment they should perform it. The connections to Plotinus here too were striking – both point toward emptying yourself, becoming self-same, and finding unity through letting go of knowledge and desire. This connects very closely to Plotinus’ notion of “contemplation” in that you must empty yourself completely and become the object of your contemplation in order to truly contemplate it.
Other Media to Check Out
- Lathe of Heaven (book) – Ursula K. Le Guin
- Perfect Days (movie) – Wim Wenders
- Kung Fu Panda (movie) – Dreamworks
