Tao Te Ching, Chapter 36

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Taoism is what is sometimes called a ‘natural philosophy’.  That is, it bases its beliefs on observation of the natural world.

Now, that may not seem like a big deal, but for some people it can be.  In today’s polarised world, it tends to excite all the animosity that exists between theists and atheists.  For those who believe in a supreme being, natural philosophy is worthless because it hasn’t been handed down on stone tablets from on high.  For those who believe themselves to be unshackled from such ‘superstition’, it represents a spiritual path that is uncorrupted by religious dogma.  For better or worse, the Tao Te Ching often finds itself in the centre of this conflict!

I am a Taoist; I am a Christian.  For me, religion and natural philosophy are complementary forces.  Like stalactites and stalagmites in a cave, one descends from heaven to earth while the other rises from earth to heaven.  Why should anyone have to choose between the two?

Here is an example of this natural philosophy at its best:

If you want to shrink something,
you must first allow it to expand.
If you want to get rid of something,
you must first allow it to flourish.
If you want to take something,
you must first allow it to be given.
This is called the subtle perception
of the way things are.

Everything in nature moves in cycles:  rising and falling, giving birth and dying, expanding and collapsing.  If the author of this parable had been given a glimpse into the movements of galaxies in deep space, I doubt that he would have been surprised!

But we don’t often act like this is true.  We want things to be good all the time. We want to gain without losing.  We want to be happy without being sad.  We want the economy to expand, and then wonder who is to blame when it contract.  We want people to be born, but we don’t want them to die.  We want what simply can’t ever be.  Then we get get frustrated, and we try harder:  elect new politicians, invent better age-extending and anti-depressant drugs.  But nature teaches us again that gentle persistence is more effective than frantic striving:

The soft overcomes the hard.
The slow overcomes the fast.
Let your workings remain a mystery.
Just show people the results.

What about you?  What are your religious beliefs, and do they complement your observations of the world around you?