[Faith-talk] The Principle of Wu Wei

[Vejas Vasiliauskas]

Sorfor this is OT, but I just noticed the two of you had the same 
last name.  Are you related?
Vejas


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Christine Olivares via Faith-talk <faith-talk at nfbnet.org
To: Brandon Anthony Olivares <programmer2188 at gmail.com>, 
"Faith-talk,for the discussion of faith and religion" 
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 9 Jan 2015 00:08:19 -0500
Subject: Re: [Faith-talk] The Principle of Wu Wei

You know, I think this applies no matter what religion one is.  I 
have certainly noticed that you really can’t stop life from 
flowing the way it will.  The biggest mistake can be the biggest 
blessing.  I call them blessings in disguise because sometimes I 
can’t see the blessing until much later.  so yeah, I totally 
agree with this.

Christine
 On Jan 9, 2015, at 12:03 AM, Brandon A.  Olivares via Faith-talk 
<faith-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 I wanted to discuss a principle I’ve been studying lately.  
It’s a principle of Taoism called Wu Wei, or non-doing.  Let me 
quote a passage from the Tao Te Ching that explains it a bit:

 “Therefore the Master
 acts without doing anything
 and teaches without saying anything.
 Things arise and she lets them come;
 things disappear and she lets them go.
 She has but doesn't possess,
 acts but doesn't expect.
 When her work is done, she forgets it.
 That is why it lasts forever.” (Tao Te Ching, 2)


 In my own spiritual exploration, I’ve realized that life goes 
the way it does, and we can either flow with it, or fight against 
it.  Even the things that happen that appear to be a mistake, 
later on turns out to be an essential part of the big picture— 
an essential fiber in the tapestry, so to speak.

 The principle of Wu-Wei says that we do by not doing.  We teach 
by being silent.  There’s no right or wrong, there are only two 
choices: flow, or resistance.

 And in the end is there even a choice? In Taoism, as well as 
many eastern traditions, it is seen that we are one with the 
Infinite, the Tao, whatever.  The Tao is everything and nothing.

 “Look, and it can't be seen.
 Listen, and it can't be heard.
 Reach, and it can't be grasped.

 “Above, it isn't bright.
 Below, it isn't dark.
 Seamless, unnamable,
 it returns to the realm of nothing.
 Form that includes all forms,
 image without an image,
 subtle, beyond all conception.

 “Approach it and there is no beginning;
 follow it and there is no end.
 You can't know it, but you can be it,
 at ease in your own life.
 Just realize where you come from:
 this is the essence of wisdom.” (Tao Te Ching, 14)


 And so if we are one with that, then whether we resist or flow, 
that is the way of the Tao.  Resistance is its own kind of flow, 
if you look at it.
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