Treating things equally: The Taoist Way to Spiritual Liberation
How to detach from subjectivity and live naturally
As a collective species, we have achieved remarkable progress over the centuries, and our achievements are truly awe-inspiring. We often attribute our accomplishments to rational thinking, creative capacities, and audacity. However, while our ability to reason has propelled us forward, it has also led us into endless disputes and conflicts. Throughout history, our progress has been defined by the battle of ideas.
We often hold tightly to our beliefs, defending them passionately while vehemently opposing contrasting values, worldviews, and belief systems. Unfortunately, history has shown that this intense conviction can lead to countless crimes committed in the name of a particular cause. Moreover, under the influence of political propaganda and the psychological impunity found within significant social movements, we often accuse, condemn, and demonize those who hold opposite views without thoroughly examining their relative merits and validity.
Perhaps one way forward is to cultivate empathy and open-mindedness, seeking to understand the perspectives of those with whom we disagree. Then, instead of demonizing the "Other," we could attempt to engage in constructive dialogue, listening to their experiences and ideas without judgment. But is there a way to escape this precarious human condition?
“The piping of man”
In ancient China, there lived a renowned Taoist master named Zi Qi of the South Wall. One day, a curious disciple visited him and found him gazing up at the sky, breathing calmly and deeply, seemingly lost in a trance and uttering no words.
Perplexed by his master's behavior, the disciple asked him why. Master Zi Qi replied that he had lost himself. The student was even more puzzled by this cryptic response.
Then, Zi Qi explained that losing oneself means attaining a state of oneness with nature. Essentially, he had transcended his ego and sense of individual identity and merged with the universe. As a result, his mind had become crystal clear, devoid of distractions or illusions, and his spirit was elevated to a higher level of consciousness.
Upon his student's request, Zi Qi provided further insight into his experience, using examples such as the piping of men, earth, and heaven. He explained that people could master the art of playing the pipe, which produces music. Naturally, individuals have distinct tastes and preferences regarding different musical genres.
Zi Qi described the piping of the earth as a natural symphony created by the winds and the holes in the land. When we immerse ourselves in nature, such as in a deep mountain or a forest, we can hear a variety of sounds generated by the interactions between the wind and the environment. We can detect a moment of stillness and completeness with close attention after the wind subsides. The primary difference between the piping of the earth and the piping of men is that the latter is entirely arbitrary and artificial.
Zi Qi then defined the piping of heaven as a carefree and tolerant attitude that allows all things to be as they are, indicating that all organic beings on earth, including humans, plants, animals, rivers, and mountains, can behave and thrive naturally. In this state, no one is present to prescribe, direct, or restrain, and all can create their paths of being according to their capacities, desires, and expectations.
Lost in the realm of human voices
We are all too familiar with frequent arguments and disputes in everyday life. We have been conditioned to believe that each individual has their own perspective and opinion on every matter, and thus, we feel compelled to defend our own views. It seems that this is an inherent quality of humankind. But is this not the “piping of man” causing confusion?
We become subjective because we all follow our own completed and individualized hearts, meaning we are all unique and possess individual values and beliefs. We unknowingly allow these preconceived notions to guide our daily actions, disregarding the limitations and shortcomings of our convictions. We tend to view what aligns with our preferences as right and what does not as wrong. This tendency results in a perpetual mental conflict as we project our approach to the objective world. We become isolated in our thoughts, blocking ourselves from external reality. This is indeed a voluntary self-encapsulation.
When we become attuned to the routine of our enclosed life, we limit our potential to live fully. By relying on strict and fallacious principles, rules, ideologies, and codes of behavior to govern our daily activities, particularly those that define us as human beings, such as economic and political pursuits, literary expression, and religious practices, we constrain our experiences.
In such a scenario, encountering obstacles in our journey can leave us dismayed, discouraged, and filled with self-doubt. When overwhelmed by challenging circumstances, we may lose hope and attempt to talk ourselves out of our mental and emotional distress. Unfortunately, this often leads to closing our hearts and barricading ourselves from our inner selves.
Looking at the bright side, it's highly probable that we will attain some degree of success. We establish our existence on minor and substantial accomplishments, giving us a sense of purpose and imbuing our lives with significance. As a result, we may experience feelings of joy and contentment, which come naturally.
Nevertheless, being overly invested in our achievements is dangerous, leading to an overweening attitude toward life. At this stage, pride and vanity may influence our personalities and relationships with others. We may begin to regard our opinions and knowledge as absolute without acknowledging the narrow scope of our understanding.
The limit of language
Due to the nature of the human mind, which takes a life of its own after filling it with preconceived opinions and values, we inevitably create distinctions in our perceptions. As a result, we tend to impose our preferences and biases onto the external world. We define our interactions with other human beings based on the (non) alignment of values and interests. This habit of distinction becomes deeply ingrained and often remains unchanged throughout our lives, as altering one's core values and thinking patterns is exceedingly challenging, if not impossible. However, such distinctions lead to confusion, disagreements, and disputes.
We communicate daily with each other through verbal and written means. However, our speech is simply an expression of our thoughts and opinions, and as a result, it may not necessarily capture the objective truth or the broader perspective. Biased speech may reveal only partial facts and knowledge; therefore, it is limited in its ability to enlighten us.
From another perspective, flowery rhetoric is often of little practical use beyond winning debates and disputes. Our mental struggles are constant as various stimuli continually perturb our minds. Unlike the "piping of the earth," which ceases when the wind stops blowing, multiple circumstances can quickly arouse our minds.
When we acknowledge that our internalized thinking patterns predetermine our speech, we become trapped in a self-fulfilling cycle of thinking that limits our cognitive capacity. This creates a narrow and temporary perspective on things. For instance, we tend to perceive mountains as big, but compared to the vastness of the sky and the ocean, they appear relatively small. By treating everything equally, we enlarge our vision to appreciate the inherent worth of all things because our limited perceptions and experiences do not bind us anymore. From this perspective, the falling leaves of autumn are as significant as the mountains, depending on who the judge is, and because they are all organic components of nature.
Humans are also an inseparable part of nature. Yet, we live in shackles because we mindlessly follow our individualized hearts and allow unexamined thoughts and beliefs to infiltrate and manipulate our unspoiled human nature. This leads us to continuously categorize and differentiate things on our life journey, leading to a restricted worldview.
If we seek spiritual awakening and independence, we must refresh our value systems and ways of thinking and recognize that we do not possess absolute and ultimate truths. With this premise, we can start seeing the utility of treating opposite things equally. Then it becomes natural to stop assigning differences to names, preferences, and values. We can follow this path to find clarity. We may eventually begin to step outside self-imposed shackles and find peace and liberation within.
“Heaven and earth were born at the same time I was, and the ten thousand things are one with me.” — Chuang Tzu.