Profound Accordance

Lao Tzu’s Treatise on the Way of Heaven

As in walking we learn to harmonize with the law of gravity, so in living we learn to harmonize with the natural order. By this understanding of the term, one must develop a certain mastery of Taoist philosophy in order to remain alive. What departs the Way is already doomed, posits Lao, thus validating this understanding of his teachings as a nature philosophy which, like the nearly contemporaneous Athenian enlightenment, crested thousands of years ahead of its modern reawakening.

More generally, we live well to the degree that we practice Taoism well—the practical philosophy as originated by Lao Tzu, that is, not to be confused with the alchemist religion that inevitably cropped up later. As the 6th Century BCE military philosopher Sun Tzu taught the art of victorious warfare (based in part on Lao’s doctrine), so Lao teaches the art of victorious living.

©2010, 2022 David Ludwig Sieving (P)2023 David Ludwig Sieving