Information and comments on the essay:
Walking with the flow of Tao in a modern world
From the book: Chum for Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters by David Satterlee
Find out more, including where to buy books and ebooks
Read or download this essay as a PDF file at: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B4eNv8KtePyKSVRLUURhMFdlWkE/edit?usp=sharing |
| Chum For Thought: Throwing Ideas into Dangerous Waters |
Walking with the flow of Tao in a modern world
The Chinese character for Tao combines two signs: head and
foot. It reflects the concept of walking consciously. It is simply “the way”
and implies that the walker is in conscious harmony with the existing order of
things. His/her actions are intentionally harmonious rather than in conflict or
opposition to what is. The way of Tao tends to rely more on sensitized
intuition rather than reasoning and logic.
The practical application of Tao-living leads to competences
that Westerners would consider “giftedness.” For instance, an archer living
with Tao would not attempt to mentally calculate trajectories and influences of
a cross breeze, but would experience a sense of fullness with his environment,
visualizing the arrow’s destination. He would release his arrow toward the
target when the moment and position seemed right. Skilled basketball players
(or golfers, etc.) can have the same reflexes for making good shots or right
moves. Many of us feel the same sense of effortlessness while driving in
traffic.
The research psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes
a similar state of mind that he calls “flow.” Flow may occur while
