The Tao Holistic Approach
is One Way for
Mind-Body-Spirit Resolve

The Tao (pronounced “dow”) is the Chinese Quran, in my opinion--similarly misunderstood and under-researched. I took classes in Asian philosophy as an undergraduate and again as an adult. Arriving after the organizing and unifying message of Confucious (Kung Fu Tzu, who was at least 2000 years Before Christ), the more individualized and personal message of Lao Tzu is the most important contribution the Chinese have made to ancient and timeless wisdom.

An open source site of sacred literature provides the entire Tao Te Ching (The Way of Power) that Lao Tzu is credited with writing. This legacy of thought is as healing as it is provocative and wise. This famous statement:

“Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.
Teach him how to fish and you feed him for a lifetime”

is attributed to Lao Tzu and The Way. People recite it as if it comes from the Bible, and perhaps many groups have made similar statements. Lao Tzu lived prior to the time of Christ; his lifetime is usually placed around 500 B.C.E.

This path is both a religion and a philosophy, and there is a huge difference between the religious practice and how people live its philosophical guidance. The latter concerns us most here because it is this path that has had the most exposure in the West.

In a nutshell, its wisdom helps one to be more decisive, valuable in self-concept, mentally keen, spiritually invisible unassuming and physically a powerhouse. Not raw strength but dawned strength. The kind that would generate the yin-yang, the formidable metaphysical concepts without which the healing and martial arts and feng shui and much more could not exist.

Much later, in the 17th century, other thinkers revisited another formidable Chinese classic, the I Ching or Book of Changes, and provided new commentary based Lao Tzu's wisdom. Most translations of I Ching that we read have this slant and are a result of this intervention.

Between the 20-plus years of taking Asian philosophy while in college, and taking it again while working at a college, I had the great opportunity to read a book called The Tao of Pooh, written by Benjamin Hoff. The book is an introduction to Taoism, using the fictional character of Winnie the Pooh. Hoff uses Winnie the Pooh and the other characters from A. A. Milne's stories to explain the basic principles. The book was on the New York Times bestseller list for 49 weeks and is used as required reading in some college courses.

Strangely, it is around this time that I noticed a discoloration above my inner right knee, and then I made out what it was--the shape of Pooh, just as he appears on the cover of the book. It is totally The Way for the body to confirm what the mind is experiencing, though some would say this is Zen (Chan) Buddhist. Either way, it is holistic.

Here is my favorite quote on the subject from Chuang Tzu, who lived around the same time as Lao Tzu and developed similar ideas that are often combined with the latter's:

When a man's body is at ease and his spirit is recovered,
he becomes One with heaven.

Meanwhile, the Way has enjoyed great popularity in the West, if many researchers diluted it a bit too much, according to tao purists.

Check out what this physicist--revered as the greatest in the 20th century--has to say about data (or TMI--too much information):

As far as the laws of mathematics
refer to reality, they are not certain,
and as far as they are certain,
they do not refer to reality.

--Albert Einstein (1879-1955), German-born U.S. scientist. Quoted in: Fritjof Capra, The Tao of Physics, ch. 2 (1975).