Synthesis Paper 2.F

What is Philosophy as demonstrated in Ancient Chinese Philosophy by Lao Tzu?

Philosophy, according to Lao Tzu is going back or doing the ways of nature (Tao). This means that the Tao of Lao Tzu is about doing things that are according to the Natural Laws.

Before I discuss the Natural Law, I would first discuss the first concept in which it is rooted from. The Tao for Lao Tzu is the origin of the universe. It is the beginning of all things and it is where all things end up to. The nature of Tao is that it is formless. It takes no shape and is intangible but it is from it that the universe is formed. The Tao, as it is formless, cannot be perceived by the senses and because of this, it takes no name. It doesn't have a name because the being may be boxed into one context only. The Tao is eternal and it is improper to box into one context which is the concept of naming. It is just called Tao to have a direct reference.

The being of the Tao is partially unknown to man. Partially because there is a claim of its existence. It is said that the Tao is the source of every other being but the physical appearance or the existence of it is still anonymous. Lao Tzu has said that the Tao is formless but it doesn't mean it isn't there. The Tao exists but its identity is undetermined.  The Tao for Lao Tzu is beyond the perception of man. It something greater than man and its power is beyond man’s imagination. Man is a limited being and the Tao doesn't go below his level just for him to know about it. Man is not the measure of Tao but the nature of Tao itself.  Because of man’s limitation, he may perceive the Tao as nothing but the Tao is so much for man that he fails to recognize it.

Another characteristic of the Tao is that it is impartial meaning it takes no sides. It doesn't care about people. It didn't boast itself to man that it is willing to go lower up to man’s perception. The Tao has its own natural way and it does not change itself just to please man.

The Tao is so great that it doesn't fail to accomplish anything. It completes its matters through the process and sometimes, it is left unnoticed. Even though it has achieved many things, the Tao doesn't call attention. What it does are ordinary things and doesn't take credit for it. It does nothing in excess and it is always enough. Therefore, the Natural Law is rooted on the Tao because it is the beginning of everything. It created everything.

Now, going back to the Natural Law, it is the law in which things act according to their innate capacity. This is to say that things happen according to the movement of their natural self. It is the way of the universe, the way of nature.

If one is to comprehend Natural Law, one must understand its two ideas, the natural way of things and the natural self. First is the natural way. In this part, the concept of opposites is being discussed.

The emergence of opposites is normal. The world composes opposites but these opposites do not exist to contradict and negate each other. Each of the opposites contains the other as in the case of the yin and the yang. The other takes part in the formation of the other. It cannot be known without the presence of the other. Despite them being opposites, they still share a sense of sameness that makes them. For example, the long and the short share in the essence of length.

The natural way of the opposites is going on a circular direction. It means that the opposites work through reversal. The other opposite precedes to the other like rain precedes sunshine. One thing about the opposites is that it is only opposite to its partner. It is not opposite to other things. Another interpretation of the reversal is that the opposites always goes back to the Tao. It is done this way because all of them are from the Tao. They are one with the Tao. The Tao is the origin of these things and to it everything shall return. It is the natural way of things. Going on a reversal way.

As what I have said, the emergence of the opposites is normal. Despite the opposite-ness of these things, it still managed to be in harmony with one another.  The invitation for man here is to go on to the natural way of things. That it let things happen. In the case of the opposites, the two are not in contrast with each other. One does not negate the other but instead, it complements it thus creating harmony despite their difference. In man’s life, despite the opposite or contradictions, he should be in tune with it. He should not negate it as it would bring worse scenarios. The man should just let things happen.

Second idea is the natural self. In this part, the concept of the Te is being discussed.

Civilization and education makes man break away from the natural order of things. Man creates his own ways like following a rigid, straight path which only keeps moving forward and does not look on to the past. It is also because of civilization and education that man learns on making preferences over the opposites. The emergence of opposites is natural but because of the prejudice and biases, it makes man think to prefer one over the other.

According to Lao Tzu, man is innately good. Good in the sense that he is innocent of the biases and prejudices. This is the natural self: goodness. Because of civilization and education, man forgets his real and natural self. He starts to create a new self that is based on the demands of the society and not of the Tao. The goodness that is innocence without malice is being replaced by the goodness that is in accordance to humanity. The ways of the Tao doesn't care about the virtues of humanity. It has its own virtue.

The challenge for man here is to be able to go back to the Te or virtue of the Tao which is to be good through innocence without malice. It is going back and knowing the self for the self. The mastery of the self leads man to learn the value of contentment thus does not create desires. Having no desires means not having preferences over things. The Taoist Te, is basically concerned about the development of the person for the benefit of his self.

The descriptions above makes up the Natural Law. The realization of this natural law however, is difficult to achieve as one may be caught up by the material world.  This is the case, as what has been indicated in the powerpoint presentation, of Confucianism. Confucius discusses things that are of this world and Lao Tzu says that he doesn’t solve problem. He uses solutions which are also found in this world which is not the real solution. For him (Lao Tzu), the real solution is not of this material world. The realization of the natural law can be done through reflection. This reflection leads to insights and would let someone know what he really wants and needs. This will lead him into the realization of his natural self.

In order for one to know the self, Lao Tzu said that one should reflect on the self. This means that one should go back to his roots and follow its ways. When one has found his roots, he would have a deeper understanding of his self and he will better know his abilities. One characteristic of nature is that it does not broadcast itself. It does not set itself in the foreground so that everybody will know. It is humble and acts the way it should be. The person, following the nature is and should also be humble. He should do what he needs to do even if no one is watching him.

Taoism says that one should follow the ways of nature. Knowing the self is going back to the ways of nature. In order to know whether the person has followed it, he should at least empty his self of the things he knows from humanity. Meaning he should unlearn the ways of humanity which is always fast tracking things and pretending to be someone or somebody he is not. This is a method that is to let the self be unoccupied from the biases and expectations of humanity from a person. Emptying the self from all external factors helps him to be able to go back to the self and consult it as to what it really wants and needs. Going back to insight is going back to the nature of the self, the natural self.

When one has successfully freed the self from the prejudices of man, he will now try to learn his self. Learning the self is going back to insight.

The going back to insight is knowing from within. It is trying to listen to what is in the self, the real self that is not influenced by the things of humanity. It is knowing what the self really is, knowing what it real needs, and what it really wants to be. Insight or reflection here is to be detached from the demands of humanity and focus more on the demands of nature. This is to say that the person should find the core or the roots of his self. He should be more attentive on the things he claims to know and the way he lives his life.

Since the person has followed the ways of nature and that he has detached his self from the ways of humanity, he learns or understands better the things that are essential to him. He keeps everything which is important and throws out the unnecessary.

When one has known the nature of the self, he is being aware of his capabilities. This is to say that through reflection, he has come to know his strengths and weaknesses. He does what he is capable of doing in the way it must be. He does not boast what he can do and does not call the attention of the people. The person is efficient in doing the things he ought to do. He isn’t any more fascinated with the things in the human world.

Another thing is that he will understand better the necessities of the self.  As what I have mentioned, the person will realize the essential things that the natural self needs and he will only do the things that would satisfy those needs.

The basic or important needs are those that would only help him survive his daily life. He will not aim for more because he knows that the other needs are non-essential and that they are what we called luxuries in life.  He would only do the things that will let him achieve the needs and wants of the natural self. Aside from that, he aims for nothing else.

Since the person knows what he wants and needs, he knows when and how to stop his self from aiming more. He knows how to control himself from attaching to other things in the material world. He reminds his self to only do the things that would let him acquire the needs. Other than that, he knows that it is beyond the nature of his self and of the Tao.

The Taoist sage does not aim for something bigger than the needs of the self. Aiming for more will lead him violating the natural way of his self which is according to the natural ways of the Tao. The sage does not desire to have luxuries in his life. He knows how to be contented of what he has.

Knowing what the self needs is knowing the things that is to be done. When one has a clear vision of what he ought to do, he will no longer aim for anything else because he knows what his self really wants.

To become a Taoist sage, one must know the self in order to know the things that he needs to do. When the person does not know his self, it will lead him to do anything that pops up in his mind. He will be more attached to the material world and aims everything on it as he is not certain to what his self really needs. He would aim to have everything as he tries to identify his self.

If one’s idea is corrupted, it would result to greater problems.  The problem that Lao Tzu perceived was that of natural disorder rooted from knowledge and desire. The disorders which are poverty, rebellion, and violence are all product of the absence of the natural self and of the Tao.

Gaining knowledge according to Lao Tzu is not a good thing if one wishes to follow the Tao. For him, gaining knowledge means creating distinctions or divisions such as good and evil, hot and cold, pass or fail, etc. Such distinctions separates things, thus makes things seemingly unequal.  These distinctions influence a person in making judgments which will turn out biased. When one has knowledge, which is distinctions, he would most probably choose the one which he would benefit from, thus rejecting the other. This rejection is not part of the way of nature, as in it, everything is equal. When one is rejected, it would mean that the other is much more important or valuable than him/her/it. Aside from creating distinctions, knowledge also results in consequences that are far beyond ones intention. For example, when one has distinguished good and evil, one would probably choose good as it has a positive effect on him. When the evil is rejected, then there would be pain in the part of the rejected evil. The one who chose good over evil doesn’t have the intention of hurting the evil, but as a consequence of his action, he just did.

The knowledge of things will lead the person into wanting more and more knowledge. This creates a problem according to Lao Tzu. This is because the knowledge acquired by the person males him want more. Because of his knowledge, it fuelled him to wish to obtain more, to desire for more. The effect of this desire is that a person will lose focus on the essential things in his life. Because of the want to get more, he forgets to examine his self of what he truly wants and needs. Also, this desire would lead the person to get jealous of what the others have and what he doesn’t have. This would sometimes end up invading others property just to satisfy this want. The invasion is a violation of the natural way of the person. It is a violation because the person tries to do everything, the what to and the how, just to get what he wants. He pushes himself to create ways which are far beyond his natural self.  Having studied Lao Tzu, I can say that he has always been pushing for a simpler life, a life in which is accord to the Tao to avoid stress, anxiety and social disorder. This pushing for more than what a person can do and may have is really a violation of his natural self, of the natural law.

This knowledge of knowing creates desire in the person that led him into being caught up by the material world. Being caught up means that the person is becoming farther from the Tao. He sometimes forgets about reflecting on what he really needs. He is unable to see the important thing in his life, the things that are really essential. Having knowledge and desire fuels the social disorders because it lets a person be insane, be stressed, be mad about achieving things. When one is yearning for something, it would make him do whatever he likes just to achieve it. This means that the person goes beyond his capacities thus break the natural law.

Not yearning for anything other than the basic needs is hard to achieve especially when someone is too caught up by humanity. This is to say that the person’s life revolves around the things in the world.

Lao Tzu presented some solutions to this agony that a person may be experiencing. First is that the government should not interfere with the affairs of the people. This is to say that they let the people handle their things the way they wanted it to be. The government does not control the lives of the people instead they only facilitate them. They are only there to assist the people and not to impose things and let them do whatever they wanted them to do.

The non-interference of the government can only be done through a great king whom Lao Tzu identified as a philosopher-king. Having a philosopher-king as a leader is Lao Tzu’s second solution. A philosopher-king is one who has learned to be sage, that is to say that he knows the way of the Tao. He lives in a life that is following the ways of nature. He is someone who has already known the ways of the Tao, thus he took the responsibility of being the leader to avoid those who has dreamt of becoming a leader and rule over the empire. With a philosopher-king as a ruler, the empire would experience what Wing Tsit Chan interpreted as the laissez faire type of government. With this type of government, the people are free to do whatever they want to do. The role of the government is to not enforce laws but to ensure the security of the people and assist them in their needs.

One has to be led in that way so that one would realize the need to let things act on their own. I believe that it is a person’s nature to act when someone has already done it.  What I mean is that someone do things because of somebody else’s influence. It is easier for man to realize the need to go back to the ways of nature when one has already done it. Having a philosopher-king and a government that follows the ways of nature would inspire a person to also go back to the ways of nature.

Through the leadership of the government under the philosopher-king, the people would have a better understanding of how to handle natural conflicts or problems. The philosopher-king who knows the ways first has opened the doors for others to realize that too. He let others grasp their own potential through letting them realize their natural self. Through that, they recognize the natural play of things which is that there would always be contradictions and dealing them is not through abolishing the other but through compensating and harmonizing the two.

With the philosopher-king and the government following the ways of the Tao, it would open a person’s mind to also return to the ways of nature. Returning to the Tao would help them in dealing natural problems and conflicts.

Therefore, Lao Tzu’s Philosophy is doing the things that are of the Tao. These things of the Tao are those in accord to the Natural Law, the natural way of things. It can only be done when one has known the self. Again, knowing the self is going back to the natural way of the self which is according to the natural way of things.

Knowing the self can be done by the way of unlearning. Unlearning is the emptying the self of the teachings brought by humanity. By this, the person will see the bigger picture other than humanity which is the universe. He then sees how nature works which is being steady and stable.

Lao Tzu sees the solution to the problem of the world as letting things flow the way they should be. It is therefore letting things be themselves. Then, if this is so, one has to avoid the hunger of things, he would not yearn for anything other than supplying his basic needs. He would only satisfy his needs for survival. Yearning for more would mean forcing the self. Meaning it is going beyond the natural self.

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References

Chan, W. (1963). A source book in Chinese philosophy. United States: Princeton University Press.

Rola, R. (2013). Government of Non-Interference. Retrieved from

http://adduphilo321.blogspot.com/2013/02/government-of-non-interference.html