Learning the Good Life by Jessica Hooten Wilson EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
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- Author: Jessica Hooten Wilson
- Language: English
- Genre: Christian Self-Help
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Lao Tzu
Introduction to Tao Te Ching
PAUL J. PASTOR
The Tao Te Ching is an influential classic of Chinese philosophy and
one of the most translated books of world literature. Although the book is
traditionally attributed to a sixth-century BC sage called Lao Tzu (“Old
Master”), scholars debate the its exact date of writing and its authorship.
What is beyond argument, however, is the originality and insight of the
work. Besides forming a significant expression of Taoist philosophy, the
book has inspired generations of artists, writers, and thinkers worldwide.
As presented in the Tao Te Ching, the Tao (pronounced dow and usually
translated “Way”) is the plain but ultimately indescribable essential process
of the universe—observable in nature, human life, and society. A person
who lives in harmony with this Way enters a paradoxical flow state of both
simplicity and sagacity, something like swimming with the current of a
strong river rather than against it. To find this harmony, a state of
intentional surrender allows the wise to return to an immediacy and purity
similar to that of children.
Qualities such as unreflective hurry, grasping for power, arrogance, or
the thoughtless use of force all run contrary to the Tao and tend to carry
their own exhaustion and undoing within them. Composed of eighty-one
brief poem-chapters observing principles of this Tao from nature, human
behavior, and social life, the Tao Te Ching is a literary embodiment of the
simple/complex principles it describes. Though short enough to be read in a
quick sitting, it can reveal fresh insights for many years.
Embracing that sense of unifying paradox is essential to appreciating
the Tao Te Ching. Though the Tao Te Ching may initially seem foreign to
many Westerners, Christians have a head start here—one of the key virtues
of Christian learning is the mature ability to hold diverging ideas in tension.
After all, our tradition is steeped in the wisdom tradition of the Hebrews,
including the biblical books of Proverbs, Job, Ecclesiastes, and James,
which contain enigmatic contemplations that would have delighted Lao
Tzu. Likewise, while Taoist and Christian teachings are different in many
important ways, the subversive parables of Jesus are complemented
beautifully by many of Lao Tzu’s observations, and with essential
discernment they are profoundly enriching.
In reflecting on Lao Tzu’s Tao and Christ’s Way, we are challenged to
consider that our world may not be ordered quite as it first appears. Up is
sometimes down. Becoming like a child is the spiritual ideal. Waiting can
be action. The defeated is the one who wins. You can gain the world but
lose your own soul.
The poor in spirit might be the true owners of
everything. We need to lose our lives to find them. In these radical
statements we hear a resonance with the good news that in Christ this
world’s “very good” order is being restored and even magnified.
The Tao Te Ching provides an important counterbalance to many strictly
analytical modes of learning or knowledge. It is a deep reminder that
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