Stop thinking and end your problems. (Laozi)
Thinking about the musings from DAY 28: Day 28: Rest…Relax…Reflect…
I would submit to you that for the approximately 12 million to 173 million believers of Daoism, (depending on which website you are looking at), it works for them.
I would also submit to you that once you dig a little deeper into Daoism, there is one logical conclusion that doesn’t seem…logical.
What Daoism does prove logically is the fact that…
Someone Upstairs Runs The Show.
Is Daoism a logical belief system?
Like Confucianism, that depends on what your definition of a belief system is.
If you believe the definition for a belief system is dealing with humans living on planet Earth during your lifetime, then the application of syllogism is very similar to Confucianism, and the flow would be as follows:
PART A – If I follow Daoism, I will be aware of my feelings and needs, as well as the feelings and needs of those around me;
PART B – If others follow Daoism, they will be aware of their own feelings and needs, as well as the feelings and needs of me;
PART C – By following Daoism and being aware of each other’s feelings and needs, we would all then be able to experience harmony in our lives.
The logic seems reasonable.
If you follow the basic tenants of Daoism, you will be able to be aware of not only your own basic feelings and needs, but of those around you. At that point, it would be possible for you, along with those around you, to experience harmony in your lives.
Why wouldn’t you not want to follow Daoism as a belief system?
Who wouldn’t want others to be aware of their feelings and needs? Who doesn’t want harmony in their life? The life of their family? At work? At the gym?
Harmony for their nation and the world?
When thinking about Daoism under these conditions, it appears that one could conclude that this is a viable belief system for those who want their feelings and needs addressed.
Daoism appears logical for one who ultimately longs for harmony in their lives on a day-to-day basis.
Does wanting harmony in your life and in the lives of others, qualify as a belief system?
There are three items that need to be addressed if you wish to acknowledge Daoism as a belief system:
The first item to consider is if you believe the definition of a belief system is dealing with what happens to your soul, (or atman, etc.), after your physical passing here on planet Earth. If that is what a belief system is, then I would submit to you that Daoism most certainly does not pass as a belief system.
Consider the following 5 issues surrounding Laozi, the founder of Daoism:
1) Historians cannot agree as to whether or not Laozi actually existed;
2) No official birth or death records of Laozi have ever been found, let alone validated;
3) Historians cannot conclude unanimously that Laozi existed, due to lack of biographical evidence;
4) Historians cannot give an exact birth for Laozi, as the year of birth ranges from 600 BCE to 250 BCE and;
5) Considering that many claim that Laozi had met with Confucius around 518 BCE, his date of birth again comes into question.
A second issue when considering the validity of Daoism is the fact that it is a hybrid of one, or more than one, of the following:
1) How to achieve harmony in your life;
2) Practicing self-meditation;
3) Engaging in physical exercise;
4) Studying nature;
5) Focusing on your diet;
6) The use of talismans, (an object or objects that are thought to have magic powers);
7) The practice of divination (seeking knowledge of the future through supernatural means);
8) The awareness of the Five Ghosts: Northern, Eastern, Center, Southern and Western;
9) They were leaders of their communities and;
10) They were responsible for advising rulers.
A final issue when considering the validity of Daoism deals with the historian Sima Qian (145-86 BCE), who documents the story of Lao-Tzu.
Sima Qian was a curator at the Royal Library in the state of Chu, China, and was a natural philosopher. Laozi is referenced by Qian in the 1st century BCE in the Records of the Grand Historian. Considering that some believe that Laozi was born in 600 BCE, that would be over 500 years before Laozi was allegedly born, to where he is actually mentioned in China.
If Laozi truly was as revolutionary as some would contend, acknowledging that he is the founder of Daosim, why then would it take over 500 years after his birth to acknowledge his impacts on Chinese society during the Warring States Period?
Like Confucianism, Daoism is at its core a philosophy rather than a religion.
Like Confucianism, Daoism was founded on the idea of how to deal with how humans were interacting on planet Earth during their lifetimes, and did not address, at least directly, the concept of what happens to your soul for eternity.
If we apply syllogism to Daoism as a religion, perhaps it would look like this:
PART A – If I follow Daoism, I am following a philosophy during my lifetime;
PART B – If I follow a religion, what happens to my soul for eternity is addressed;
PART C – By following Daoism, what happens to my soul is in doubt because it is not directly addressed.
At the end of the day, Daoism is a philosophy, not a religion.
When combining the fact that historians cannot conclude unanimously that its founder Laozi even existed, along with that the fact that it took centuries to acknowledge, after he allegedly was alive, is quite unsettling indeed.
The idea of following Daoism, knowing it is a philosophy and not a religion, as a means to an end regarding my soul and eternity, is a shaky proposition indeed.
What about Judiasm?
That belief system will be covered next time.
Do not feel discouraged if you are have not figured out the Daoist belief system. Do not feel discouraged if you are still trying to process the Daoist belief system. Instead, embrace the idea that continuing to do your research to learn for yourself what is ideal for you from an eternal perspective, should bring you harmony.
16 Thus says the Lord of Hosts: Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you.
They lead you into vanity;
they speak a vision of their own heart
and not out of the mouth of the Lord. (Jeremiah 23:16 KJV)
Was today’s blog a little confusing at times? Was the content perhaps a little overwhelming? Did you feel lost not understanding some or most of the subject matter?
Those feelings are totally understandable and it is ok to have one or more of those feelings. Remember that you are reading Day 29: The Validity Of Daoism, Or Is It Daoism?
If you haven’t been in class since the first day of school…or when the project began…or when the contract was first signed, etc., these feelings make perfect and logistical sense.
Please feel free to go back to where all of this began: