Wu Wei: How To Align With The Tao And Go With The Flow

it's been four days since i first sat down to write this script i went through the start stop delete everything and start over again cycle countless times only to realize that i had been trying to force myself to write a script about not forcing chances are you can relate to this for most of us the default is trying to force things in the west from a very young age we are taught that the best way to achieve our goals is to impose our will onto the world by thinking more rigorously and strive harder that achievement is what ultimately leads to happiness especially the achievement of something that we worked very hard for virtually all of our stories be it hollywood movies pop songs sports or business biographies glorify the suffering and struggle associated with pushing through adversity to reach a goal and finally achieve happiness while this makes for a great story following this strategy in life is a pretty good recipe for misery because some of the most elusive objects of our incessant hard work like happiness attractiveness sincerity charisma are best pursued indirectly and in fact are strikingly resistant to conscious pursuit eastern philosophies like taoism and buddhism have identified that the joy attained from these successes is only ever fleeting and here's why we all know the subtle disappointment that creeps into our precious moments of achievement because reality rarely meets our expectations even worse after a while we become used to our new status quo only to find ourselves a few days later wondering what's next at that point we usually look for the next adventure at the end of which we will finally be fulfilled once we repeat this cycle often enough we win the rat race and are awarded a good old midlife crisis the worst thing we realize in our midlife crisis is that while we were busy doing whatever was so important at that time we missed out on all the magic that happened around us this is when fomo gets real the fear of missing out on life that's the point where we actually realize that we've cheated ourselves all the way we became slaves to our desires because fulfillment is much more about the journey than the destination happiness comes from enjoying what we have rather than trying to change it and force our will onto the world in other words seeking happiness and achievements is like seeking happiness in the weather the ancient chinese philosophy of taoism emphasizes living in harmony with dao which means way in translation this is known as wu wei and that is the alignment with the rhythms of the elements both within and outside of our bodies it is a kind of app and flow and effortless surrender to the natural cycles of the world the origins of the taoist understanding of huawei date back to lao tzu a mysterious chinese philosopher of the 6th century bc most famous for his incredible influential poetic text called dao ching laut says that that the doubt it can be told is not the eternal dao which might be a frustrating statement for those holding any hopes of finding a deeper understanding what he tries to express is the sentiment that the way is something that exists beyond the constraints of language and can only be experienced not intellectualized or characterized in other words the moment you try to grasp it with the mind and dress it in words you've already lost its essence taoism recognizes that the secret to life is not to force threat or struggle to control and manipulate reality but to relax smile and flow downstream allowing things to naturally unfold in other words go with the flow by accepting rather than resisting the present moment most of us tend to think of resistance as being a sign of strength so the concept of non-resistance is a difficult concept for many people to understand but laozi explains it perfectly in verse 76 stiffness is a companion of death flexibility a companion of life an army that cannot yield will be defeated a tree that cannot bend will crack in the wind wu way means effortless action or natural non-intervention which seems paradoxical and is often misinterpreted as apathy laziness or even ignorance most of us like to believe that we are in control by taking a proactive approach in order to achieve our goals because it feels better than doing nothing but action is unavoidable in life it's impossible to do nothing even just to survive we have to constantly do something we have to eat and drink move sleep and take care of our body maintaining even the symbols of lives takes effort least of all the effort required to make a basic income the dao de ching describes non-action as a paradox in which dualistic tensions like passivity and aggression resolve that which offers no resistance overcomes the hardest substances that which offers no resistance can enter where there is no space few in the world can comprehend the teaching without words or understand the value of non-action in other words wu way means to not go against nature otherwise we will go against ourselves everything around us has a natural flow wu way tells us to find this flow and surrender ourselves to it water is mentioned numerous times in the dow teaching to explain the concept of huawei while water is one of the softest and most yielding of substances it's also one of the most powerful water is essential and life-giving with an ability to cut through rock and literally move mountains it does this through a patient and tactical submission to the laws of nature similarly humans must also be able to adapt themselves to their environment and act according to the way nature encourages philosopher and writer ellen watts uses the example of a sailing boat roo way is the art of sailing rather than the art of rowing growing is a rather thoughtless way of moving a boat across water because it requires immense strain and hardship to move against the current of a body of water sailing on the other hand uses the forces of nature namely the power of the wind to skillfully move and maneuver the boat rather than going against nature sailing requires that you flow through nature effortlessly but there's a catch sailing is only possible when we make the initial effort to set up the sail even if the wind is strong and the water is clear the boat won't go anywhere if we leave the sail on set again wu way doesn't mean not taking action at all in other words staying idle while you're supposed to take action is just as bad as taking action when you're supposed to stay idle fluidity not laziness harmony not apathy awareness not ignorance that's the essence of wu wei recognize the forces of nature and act accordingly instead of moving against life let life move through you by allowing action to happen as it wants to happen you surrender to the flow of life as it gently moves through you and around you on the other hand another essential component of huawei is knowing when not to act sometimes holding back is the most appropriate response until you feel truly moved to take action instead of tirelessly reacting to that which is outside of your control life is all about a yin yang balance of action and inaction the world has numerous philosophies and principles that are quite similar to way for example you might have noticed that wu wei is somewhat reminiscent of stoicism a philosophy founded by xenocitium first taught in the streets of athens around 300 bce stoicism puts a large emphasis on understanding yourself your feelings thoughts and emotions by rationalizing them one of the basic tenets of this stoic philosophy is to differentiate between what you can control and what lies outside of your control wu wei promotes a similar attitude to surrender control and go along with the natural flow of things wei also shares similarities with the buddhist concept of non-attachment when we become attached to our expectations in our desire to dominate and regulate our world we suffer additionally wu-wei also resembles the buddhist concept of nirvana which is a liberation from samsara known as the cycle of endless rebirth nirvana is described as a state of perfect quietude freedom and happiness it can be attained through the riddens of dukkha translated as suffering which is in turn attained through the succession of worldly cravings similar to away nirvana encourages the act of letting go regarding western philosophy charles bukowski with his famous quote don't try might be one of the best philosophical embodiments of huawei buckowski who didn't write because he was particularly good at it nor because he liked it simply wrote because he couldn't not write in his words i didn't choose writing writing chose me he explained himself in a letter somebody asked me what do you do how do you create you don't i told them you don't try that's very important not to try either for cadillac's creation or immortality you wait and if nothing happens you wait some more one simple line which appears on his headstone don't try because we don't have to if we go with the flow trying is unnecessary the flow will take us along with it but how do we go with the flow after all there are some tasks in our lives where we don't have time to wait for that divine flash of inspiration for example your landlord will most likely have a hard time understanding that the reason why you haven't paid your rent yet is that you didn't feel like it society sometimes forces us to just suck it up and do stuff regardless of whether we feel like it or not we all have lives a family friends a job maybe a dog living a life that is one hundred percent spontaneous and in accordance with a natural flow is not realistic for most of us which is why you should view wu wei more as a spectrum than in terms of black and white to experience and align yourself with a dao you must free yourself from your ego and the ideal that you have force upon yourself and others start by taking your time nature does not hurry yet everything is accomplished can you make grass grow by pulling it can you bake a cake faster by turning up the temperature in the oven in nature things happen in their own way and at their own pace trying to make things happen faster than they do naturally often leads to disaster the grass gets pulled out and dies the cake gets burned and has to be thrown away but by letting it flow naturally it all gets done and lautz's words the world is won by those who let it go but when you try and try the world is beyond winning we are responsible for our actions but not for the results of our actions why because every result in life is dependent not on a single cause but on a multitude of causes and most of them are outside of our control a stoicism says it doesn't make sense to worry about what you don't and can't control that's a recipe for a life of misery humans however keep situations alive by replaying them over and over in their minds caught up by the erroneous belief that something shouldn't have happened we hold so many beliefs about how the people around us should behave even how we should behave ourselves we even want our pet's behavior to match our expectations but letting go of how we think the world should be is both incredibly liberating and incredibly hard first become conscious of your attachments and beliefs concerning your income weight parents partner boss and most importantly your precious self once you have an overview of your attachments it is time to let them go when we are able to do this we enter a state of flow a feeling we may have glimpsed at points in our lives when we are totally immersed in action when we become one with the task at hand free from distraction and internal dialogues or imagining past or future events being totally present being present instead of constantly thinking about the past and the future has been identified as a key to a more peaceful life by countless spiritual teachers live with fresh perception imagine you've arrived on this planet for the first time consciously see and experience everything as though it's new to you engage your senses become aware of your surroundings by taking your focus out of the mind another way to cultivate presence is meditation through meditation we learn to witness and detach from our thoughts and emotions without automatically being swept up by them ultimately going with the flow means shifting your locus of control from head to heart this is mainly a question of trusting yourself enough to spontaneously follow your intuition rather than excessive overthinking intuition also known as gut feeling is that first impulse you get when you're faced with a decision before your mind takes over and starts to overthink and analyze as humans we feel more secure when we have a sense of predictability in our lives we therefore develop a great capacity for denying a simple truth life is not ideal nothing ever stays the same life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes and nothing ever lasts forever or undoubts his words even nature with all its power and majesty can create a storm that will last forever whatever you're experiencing in life right now will disappear and something else will come along to replace it people who know this and tap into it moving peacefully with the natural course of change can be very successful clinging to the past can be a great source of misery the future has always been a mystery an adventure and always will be and resisting the present is a feudal exercise and an enormous waste of energy as lautsu says those who have knowledge don't predict those who predict don't have knowledge in the end life is unpredictable the wind blows as it will and life takes us in its own direction as humans we are both blessed and cursed by our ability to experience and exercise free will all other creatures on the planet automatically follow their instincts and programming they naturally follow the dao in the end life is about balance working and not working it's about the yin and the yang only when you learn how to balance your life your thinking and your behavior you exist in accordance with nature and will find peace and harmony by going with the flow if you found value and enjoyed watching give this video a thumbs up and subscribe for more videos

Channel: PRiSMA

Views: 25,381

Keywords: philosophy, motivation, mental health, prisma, PRiSMA, self development, personal development, psychology, pursuit of wonder, einzelganger, wu wei, taoism, tao, tao te ching, dao de ching, lao tzu, laozi, lao tse, how to go with the flow, how to flow taoism, how to align with tao, how to flow wu wei, wu wei flow, the art of flow, the power of flow, flow like water, how to flow with tao

Id: 3rJRgvRs3jc

Length: 14min 50sec (890 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 10 2021