If you can empty your mind of all thoughts your heart will embrace the tranquility of peace. Lao Tzu We live in a world where striving is the norm. It’s all about achievement, optimal performance, and self-optimization.
We’ve become our own taskmasters, continuously pushing ourselves to achieve more and move faster. We live in a world where stress, burnout, depression, and anxiety have become embedded in the fabric of our daily lives. And as these phenomena become more prevalent and severe, we’re on our way from collective self-exploitation to collective self-destruction.
Today’s society is a Taoist’s nightmare. It’s so disconnected from the natural flow of life, so obsessed with control, status, consumption, and materialism that we’ve forgotten how to be at peace. Luckily, the ancient Taoist sages left us with heaps of wisdom that could help us bring back tranquility in our lives.
Take Lao Tzu, for example, who left a small manual more than two thousand years ago, which became one of the most important Taoist scriptures. Although times were drastically different back then, the ancient sages faced a similar predicament as many do today: they disagreed with the dominant society and civilization. They looked for a different way to live.
As a consequence of my recent collaboration with After Skool, I thought it would be nice to revisit Taoist philosophy. We’re about to explore Taoist views that could help us to let go of a stressful, insane world. If you want to help keep this channel going, become a Patreon supporter.
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There’s a link below for more information. Today’s world is stressful. Compared to simpler times, the average person has a lot of stuff to consider.
Just look at the abundance of choices we have—the many forms of entertainment to choose from—and the many ways we could live our lives. In a previous video on philosopher Byung-Chul Han, we talked about the achievement society we’re currently living in, in which we, as achievement subjects, have become our own taskmasters, whipping ourselves into accomplishing more and more, often to the point of burnout. The insanity of today’s system is putting endless strain on its people.
From an imperative to achieve, we’re stretching ourselves beyond our means, running rat races, self-optimizing in every area we possibly can. It’s like just having a PhD isn’t enough: we feel we need to have a PhD, a six-pack, a perfect marriage, an interesting and amazing social circle, running marathons, traveling, and displaying all these things on social media. In a stressful, insane world where we encourage each other to self-exploit, it’s difficult to relax truly.
Many go to bed, tormented by worries of the future, and wake up, their mind filled with endless tasks and to-do lists. Our lives have become a collection of sprints from task to task, with hardly any time for reflection. Contemplation is a waste of time.
Boredom is evil. Idleness is a sin. We should be grinding, always becoming better versions of ourselves.
We should always be headed toward the prize. But the ongoing grind without proper moments of non-action will eventually wear us down. Taoist philosopher Lao Tzu has some wisdom to teach us that might help us let go and live in less stressful ways.
The author of the Tao Te Ching (which is considered the central work of Taoism) is quite a mysterious fellow. Most scholars agree that the author must have been Lao Tzu, also spelled Laozi or Lao Tse. However, there’s a lack of historical information that tells us who this man really was.
Some even doubt if he ever existed. The most telling evidence of what Lao Tzu was up to is in his legacy, a book of 81 chapters mainly about an elusive but universal and all-encompassing force named Tao. Lao Tzu’s philosophy entails several themes, such as going with the flow, the vanity of striving and trying too hard, the advantage of softness, and harmony with nature.
An underlying theme of Lao Tzu’s teachings is the profound power of letting go, which I believe is a vital component of a peaceful and balanced life. Understanding and embracing this power can lead to a sense of enlightenment and freedom. What’s so refreshing about Lao Tzu’s teachings is that they’re inviting us to go in the opposite direction.
The Tao Te Ching seems to be a guide designed for a ruler. Yet, it contains wisdom that could make anyone question how they live their lives, especially those tired of all the striving and accomplishing. For example, in chapter forty-four of the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu states: Fame or self: Which matters more?
Self or wealth: Which is more precious? Gain or loss: Which is more painful? He who is attached to things will suffer much.
He who saves will suffer heavy loss. A contented man is never disappointed. He who knows when to stop does not find himself in trouble.
He will stay forever safe. End quote. Today’s society praises excess, whether it’s wealth, fame, or material possessions.
Showing off your Lambo? You’re a winner. Millions of followers on Instagram?
You’ve made it. And so, we’ve grown attached to all these things that are essentially beyond our control. Lao Tzu asks us what’s more important: fame and wealth or ourselves, how we feel, our contentment and inner peace?
Fame can be nice, especially for those who like attention, but there are many downsides as well, and it’s difficult to attain and maintain it. Just look at those who have it, get attached to it, and do the craziest things, sometimes out of desperation, to stay relevant. And what about money?
Money is convenient, for sure. But does money itself make us happy? According to Lao Tzu, it doesn’t.
Ultimately, our happiness and contentment don’t depend on all these outside factors. Contentment lies within. It’s the absence of lack, the feeling that the way things are is perfectly fine, which doesn’t require all the stuff society tells us we should have; we might as well let go of it and focus on cultivating contentment with less.
The James Legge translation of the same verse states: Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. It’s no surprise that we’re always so busy.
Our world offers so many possibilities, so many paths to take, and so many ways to improve ourselves, achieve more, attain more, buy more, and experience more. The paradox of choice alone is already a source of stress and exhaustion. Let’s contemplate the following words by Lao Tzu: If you over-esteem talented individuals, people will become overly competitive.
If you overvalue possessions, people will begin to steal. Do not display your treasures or people will become envious. End quote.
This simple verse illustrates the problem with our achievement society. First of all, we over-esteem talent and accomplishment, so people behave accordingly. It’s all about achievement.
It’s all about showing how great we are compared to others. And yes, people have become overly competitive in today’s world. In almost everything, we find competition nowadays, be it in schools, workplaces, or social media.
The common good isn’t important anymore; it’s about individual success and ego, as we have become entrepreneurs of ourselves. Can’t we say the same thing about possessions? Aren’t these the indicators of success we try to attain, the proof of being a successful achievement subject?
“People begin to steal,” argues Lao Tzu, which is true, but not only that. People act in unethical, immoral ways to get what they want, kicking others down to get higher up. Needless to say, narcissism is prevalent.
Being a narcissist pays. Also, Lao Tzu observed that showing off our material possessions makes people envious, which only attracts trouble and leads to more stress. “The more wealth you possess, the harder it is to protect,” he argued.
If we want to let go of all these stresses, embracing simplicity may be a wise move. What if we’re free from all these modern-day desires? What if we don’t feel the need to self-optimize in so many different areas?
How about not being well-rounded? How about not standing out? How about not being successful according to societal standards?
How tranquil would our lives be if we would ignore today’s society’s imperatives and be content with little? In earlier videos on Taoism, we’ve explored the idea of swimming against the stream and letting oneself float along with it. The idea is simple: if we swim against the stream, we put in lots of effort to get somewhere, but sometimes, we don’t even reach it.
One thing is certain: we become exhausted. Therefore, Lao Tzu repeatedly mentions the power of non-doing. If we become aware of the workings of the universe, we could see how our actions are counterproductive.
For example, overstretching ourselves in our pursuit of unending self-optimization and self-improvement may cause us to constantly push ourselves toward collapse, which isn’t a very stable way of living, as Lao Tzu stated: “Those who stand on tiptoes do not stand firmly. ” Hence, Lao Tzu also advises his readers to be weary about taking the highest position. The tallest trees catch the most wind.
And when we’re at the top, it takes a tremendous amount of effort to stay there because many want the top position. It’s stressful compared to the lower regions, in which one lives more privately, with less competition, fewer enemies, and, in general, less effort. In short, we’re standing more firmly on the ground in the lower position.
Lao Tzu also has a message for the go-getters among us who try to rush themselves to the top or fall for get-rich-quick schemes, which are often formulas for failure and wasted energy: “Those who rush ahead don't get very far,” he wrote. We could also apply this to multitasking (the act of doing several things simultaneously), which ultimately inhibits our ability to perform really well at one task or create something of substance. Unfortunately, we live in a society that’s always in a rush.
We’re rushing to get things done, rushing to get wealthy, even rushing to self-improve. Learn Spanish in 6 days! Get a six-pack in a week!
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Why the overstretching? Why live on the edge of exhaustion all the time? We’re not doing ourselves a favor.
Yet, society commands us always to be busy. Rushing and grinding, no matter if we’re swimming against the stream, doing is a virtue. Hence, we have offices full of people more concerned with showing that they’re productive than actually producing something.
Also, things like substance, balance, patience, careful consideration, and slow but steady progress aren’t exactly celebrated. But these are the fundamentals to a robust, substantial form of success. What if we let go of the societal expectation of stretching ourselves beyond our means and quick but unsubstantial status and success?
“Those who try to outshine others dim their own light,” wrote Lao Tzu. What if we put substance over status and balance over self-exploitation? What if we let go of what philosopher Alain de Botton calls ‘Status Anxiety,’ which is the anxiety that comes from comparing oneself to others and worrying that we are falling short of society’s expectations?
We just have to contemplate the vastness of the universe to realize how powerless we are as fragile humans living on a desolate rock somewhere on the outskirts of the galaxy. Perhaps for that very reason, we’re obsessed with control, as we incessantly try to control our environment and ourselves). Lao Tzu wrote: Do you want to rule the world and control it?
I don't think it can ever be done. The world is sacred vessel and it can not be controlled. You will only it make it worse if you try.
It may slip through your fingers and disappear. End quote. There are many ways we try to control our environment and ourselves.
For example, we wish to be safe, and we believe that accumulating a lot of money and having ten security cameras around the house will ensure that. We want to be perceived highly in the eyes of others, so we put everything in place to make sure our surroundings think highly of us. We want to keep our jobs, so we answer to all of our employers’ whims so we won’t get fired and worry about our positions day and night.
But we’re never safe. We can’t control other people’s opinions. We can’t command our boss’s attitude towards us.
Once we accept this, we’ll see we’re wasting time doing so. We might even harm ourselves if we hold on to the illusion: we’ll experience stress, and the universe might work against us, as it doesn’t let itself be controlled. Why not focus on what we can control, which is our ability to find inner peace amidst chaos?
But to do so, we’ll have to be willing to let that chaos—that insanity we’re so wrapped up in–be. Thank you for watching.
