Hello friends! In my previous post, i said i would be travelling to China! Well i am still in China because i will be discussing with you another great scholar from China. Please i am still in Nigeria oooooo (laughs!). But by writing about the philosophies of these great scholars, permit me to be in China in 'spirit' (winks).
Today i shall be looking an interesting topic called Taoism! Taoism as a philosophy focuses more on nature and has little or nothing to do with society. As a philosophy it was championed by Lao Tzu. It should be noted also that just like Confucianism, Taoism is being practiced as a religion.
Lao Tzu believes that we worry much about so many things, most of which are irrelevant. Taoism is sometimes reffered to as Daoism. The teachings and philosophies are the same. So when you see Taosim or Daoism you are reading same thing.
For the Taoists we chase things of the world and these things will fade away as time goes on. Beauty, riches are things man pursues yet these things are not permanent, they never give us fulfillment.
The Taoist view about life and everything about human beings is that it should one that does not rest on getting cars, houses, or any wordly things. It should be one that is totally focused on the nature. Like we know, the Chinese pay more attention to meditation.
For Lao Tzu, man needs to shun all these pursuit for riches and wealth. Mans need to turn away from worldly things and return to nature. He believes that fulfillment comes from doing NOTHING (wu-wei)! He believes that working or pursuing worldly riches are interrupting the works of nature. Nature has ways it does things and it should be left to work things out itself. He believes that we should do nothing and let nature take it course.
So we need to follow the natural forces and by so doing we have moved away from the Confucius way of integrating man to the society by leaving a monks life. This does not mean we should dissociate ourselves from the society but rather we should pay attention to ourselves and let nature takes it course.
Now what can we make of the Taoist claim? Should we allow nature to work things out on its own? Should we just be looking and let things unfold naturally? Has things unfolded naturally in the past? What is nature that will suggest to us to let it do its work? Can you stop praying, working, hustling, dreaming about those beautiful cars, those beautiful houses and those amazing things we aspire to have in life?
My View
Taoism doesn't in totality suggest we leave everything but rather never be bothered about the outcome of things. It teaches that we should expect less so that we won't be disappointed. We should not hope for greater things when we know that life is full of ups and down.
The Taoist teachings simply preach simplicity! Expect nothing so that you won't feel disappointed when you get nothing. Life itself is not certain so why put your hope on something with certainty with you will get it?
What do you think about the Taoist view about nature, man and the society? Do you think we should not expect anything from the world, focus on what nature gives and be less concerned about worldly riches? What do you make of the view explained above?
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