Wu Wei: Taoism brings us a philosophy to live better

Sometimes, life becomes so complicated that it is difficult not to get lost in a torrent of sensations. Painful memories that remind us of the past, sensations that reach us through the senses from the present, fantasies and fears that we project into the future…

What really happens to us is mixed with what is created by our own mind

Sometimes this fact causes us to get confused and come to a state of saturation from which it is difficult to get out. Fortunately, there are thought forms from Asia that can be used to live according to the principle of simplicity.

Specific, Taoism, a philosophy born in ancient China, is known for having created a concept to express this idea: Wu Weiwhich literally means “no action”.

the way of tao

In a world where personal ambitions and the desire to accumulate power prevail, Wu Wei is revolutionarybut to understand its meaning we must go back more than 25 centuries, until arriving in contemporary China to Greek philosophers such as Heraclitus or Parmenides.

At that time, the Chinese thinker Lao Tzu wrote a text known as the Tao Te Ching, or “book of the path of virtue”which was the foundational piece of Taoism.

What was the idea of ​​virtue according to this philosopher? His conception of what is morally good was closely related to the way he believed the cosmos works, which he understood as a process of constant change that occurs naturally and fluidly.

Lao Tzu believed that the natural state of things should include the way in which people behave. In that way, appropriate behavior is one that imitates the simple and natural flow of things. The Wu Wei is exactly this idea: not to alter the natural course of things by getting out of the way by which, by default, things flow.

Thus, contrary to what happens in Western cultures, the philosophy of taoism does not emphasize the importance of action, but the need to live simply. While from the western mentality changes are seen as the result of struggles between forces of nature or society, from Taoism it is understood that change processes are simple and natural. In other words, it makes no sense not to accept them and try to prevent them from happening.

A life ruled by the Wu Wei

The Wu Wei implies not concentrating attention on the need to act, but letting things flow. It also implies feeling more attached to simplicity than to ambitions and desires.

But it also provides a state of mind that can be used to meditate and to reach a state of relaxation, losing sight of worries about what we imagine, what keeps us in the past and what doesn’t even have to happen.

This powerful idea is that if we want to live authentically in the present, instead of trying to forget or trying not to think, we simply we must give up these worries. Nor try to get rid of them, but simply get rid of them, not spend effort to keep them as we do.

The idea behind Wu Wei is that many of the actions that we think make us live more pure and simple, we actually approach them as missions where there is a goal to be achieved through action, which makes us let’s thwart

If instead of approaching it in this way we accept that non-action is natural, that virtue lies in not feeding our problems through our efforts to bring them to reality, we will live more calmly and have a better emotional balance.

Appreciating the virtues of simplicity

If we let the philosophy of Wu Wei enter our lives, we will be able to embrace the simplicity of our existence staying away from dramas and concerns that, although we are not aware of it, need our permission to flood our minds.

Keeping our eyes fixed on what has already happened and what we are not yet experiencing is the kind of complications that we cling to without realizing it.

Taoism proposes that the nature of the problems we have throughout our lives has to do with excess, and not with the lack; something unthinkable for typically European culture.

Thus, the practical keys with which to guide yourself to live according to this principle of simplicity are the following:

Letting the mind flow in calm momentsinstead of trying to stop thinking.Learn to appreciate the natural change development of thingswhich is the one that occurs without our objectives and aspirations interfering.Accept that problems are created actively by us.Not worrying about the way in which those problems are represented in our mindlet them dissolve alone in the torrent of our thought.

Definitely, value simplicity as a lifestyle above appearances, desires and expectations.

In order to take advantage of this way of life, it is necessary to stop assuming that the bad things that happen to us are due to a lack of elements and move on to accept change processeswhen we cannot avoid them or doing so would mean creating new complications.