u/befriender-

TL;DR Things aren’t as clear cut as they seem, and this softens self-judgement.

The concept of non-doing or non-forcing helps us navigate life without unnecessarily straining ourselves. The parable of Zhuangzi’s butcher encourages us to master a trade. 

Another benefit that I think is fairly unique to Taoism that doesn’t get a lot of attention, comes from its insistence on ‘maybe.’ (This is my own terminology). Taoism is founded not on commandments, yes’s and no’s, but on maybes. 

“The Tao that can be named is not the eternal Tao.”

Whatever you say and think is not the eternal Tao - it’s temporary and fleeting - not something you can rely on 100% of the time. A probability, not a permanently definable thing. A maybe (or a ‘sort of’ or a ‘for now’ at best). Even saying something is ‘probably’ true depends heavily on the data sampled. This does not apply to logical relationships, like 5>4, or that I was born before my brother

But when it comes to judgements - good/bad, lazy/hard-working, success/failure - ‘maybe’ is the difference between seeing yourself as a failure, and seeing yourself as a dynamic person capable of reinventing themselves. It’s everything. It’s the ability to deflect negative judgements. “Yeah, I was sort of lazy, at the time, and I failed to graduate on time” is MUCH more fair and forgiving than “I’m a lazy failure and I’m doomed to fail again”. And so “Maybe” can indirectly boost your self-esteem, or at least not drag it down as far

It can be subtler than that. There are opportunities to see things as maybes all the time. “The people in this city are rude” makes you see things negatively. “Okay, maybe some of them, some of the time” gives new people you meet the benefit of the doubt and weakens the impact of judgement. 

Essentially what you’re doing is bringing some yin to soften the yang - some breathing room for your mind. All you have to do (though much easier said than done, and requires care and thoughtfulness) is pay attention, and when you encounter judgements, relax and note when you’re being overly divisive. 

The same blade of judgement slices against others and against yourself. If you weaken your judgements of others, you’ll weaken judgements of yourself (and vice-versa). 

Peace & Love

Zhuangzi’s Cook

[The description of the Cook parable came partly from a chat with AI; I wrote the rest]

In Chapter 3 of the Zhuangzi, there’s a parable of a cook carving an ox. Cook Ding is cutting up an ox for Lord Wenhui. Every motion falls into rhythm - the touch of his hand, the lean of his shoulder, the tread of his foot, the sound of the blade. The cook says that what he cares about is the Way, something beyond skill.

When Cook Ding started, he saw nothing but whole oxen. After three years, he no longer saw the whole ox. After nineteen years, he meets the ox with his spirit rather than his eyes. Sense perception stops and the spirit moves freely. He slips the blade into the openings and hollows, never hacking through ligaments or joints. 

A good cook cuts, and replaces his knife once a year, an ordinary cook hacks, replacing his once a month. Cook Ding has used the same knife for 19 years, and the edge is as if it just came off the whetstone - a blade with no thickness has room to move through spaces in the joints.

At knotty places, he slows down, fixes his attention, and moves the blade with delicacy. Lord Wenhui concludes that the cook taught him how to nourish life. 

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I thought I’d give my interpretation of this parable. Though I believe it’s worth reading, the whole point is that it’s not worth remembering (at least not for long). 

Currently I support this as being aligned with Taoism, but I’m more than happy to walk back. This would be entertainment, just as all philosophy should be. 

First of all, we need to figure out what each thing in the analogy represents. 

(1) The cook - superficially the cook has exceedingly good, almost supernatural skill, but he can also represent a person going through life, perhaps a sage.

(2) The ox is the universe, your environment.

(3) The tendons and ligaments are known hazards - the things a practiced person simply never touches.

(4) The knotty places are the unexpected circumstances encountered in daily life.

(5) The knife is your mind. Replacing the knife can be imagined in different ways - anything from sharpening what you have to fundamentally shifting your worldview. 

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With those definitions, the sage is someone who slows down, assesses a situation, and gets through it in such a way that his mind is undamaged, requiring no self-analysis. He is wary of the knots and avoids the tendons with ease. 

The thickness that gets caught in the joint includes accumulated position, doctrine, knowledge, and commitments. The sage’s edge passes through because there’s nothing of him wide enough to snag - no thickness at all. A man with philosophy is a thick blade, which is what I meant by this interpretation being fundamentally wrong. I’m TRYING to explain what zero thickness is, but this can only be tried by someone that doesn’t have zero thickness. That’s what it means to get close but never all the way there. 

What makes the Zhuangzi consistent and worth reading, is that it has a method called 卮言, representing a vessel that tips and empties itself and then rights itself. Words that don't accumulate - stories that cancel their own moral; characters who refute the position they just argued. Chapter 2 argues that arguing is what hides the Way, and makes that case by arguing. That's how you philosophize without acquiring thickness (or is it?). Not abstaining from interpretations, but holding only the ones that empty themselves. 

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All self-consistent spiritual philosophy, at its zenith, is entertainment. It doesn’t plant flags, it tickles the curious mind, and then disappears. Zhuangzi uses the term 遊 - wander, play, roam - travel with no destination. It’s not about the perfection of butchery, it’s about the enjoyment of walking down the street.

The spirit of wu wei is more along the lines of 'without contrivance' (I didn't invent that). Contrivance meaning any reason other than for the sake of the game. Fame, money, achievement, status - basically any kind of gaining in order to gain.

But, importantly, gaining any of these things as a result of non-contrived action is not in and of itself undesirable (just look at Dolly Parton - she even invited fame and wealth - someone in her position, if they are successful, will become famous and rich, so why not run with it). In fact, trying to suppress gaining is itself a form of contrivance. Imagine Dolly Parton incorrectly studying wu wei every morning and trying to reject wealth and fame. That's delusional.

"Non-doing" and even "Without contrivance" are entirely yin phrasing. Wu wei deserves a more balanced definition, don't you think? Something like "Act, without contrivance", a blend of yin and yang.

The point is - don't default to not acting, default to acting (and from time to time, check to make sure you're not selling your soul, so that people will like you or give you money (or any other reason).