Daoism 101 (Part 1)
A major philosophical influence on the practice of Classical Chinese Medicine (CCM), Daoism has been applied to many modalities of healing with remarkable clinical efficacy for a diverse range of human ills over millennia.
Traditional medical applications of this philosophy include acupuncture, herbal medicine, qigong exercises, dietary therapy, aromatherapy, and the use of stones and minerals. But the principles are perfectly adaptable to any modality of health and healing, and they can make a major contribution to other aspects of our life as well.
A major theme of Daoism is the notion of waking up to and living a life of authenticity. As we find the courage to shed our limited socially conditioned persona we discover instead a limitless and authentic alternative. We discover a more beautiful, sustainable and wholesome relationship with ourselves, those around us and our environment.
We become an individual with a distinct identity - capable of making powerful contributions to the lives of others and to our planet.
According to Daoist philosophy, we achieve this awakening through a gradual attunement to ‘the Dao’ - which is essentially a transformational experience of Being itself.
The foundational text of Daoism is the Dao De Jing - attributed to Lao Zi (literally - ‘The Old Child’) and dating to around 580-500 BCE.
The Chinese character for Dao - 道 - can be interpreted as a ‘process of self-reflection’ through which an individual ‘comes to fully appreciate who they are, and understand the purpose of what they're seeking.’
The source of my own tradition of CCM comes from the oral teachings of Dr Jeffrey Yuen, an 88th generation Daoist Priest and physician. Jeffery once helpfully defined a Daoist as ‘simply someone who cares about life, takes time to consider their life, and how this connects to everything else around them.’
Methodologically, Daoism and Western philosophy differ significantly in terms of their means of investigating Being or ‘ontology’.
Western philosophy is deductive and seeks to arrive at explicit logical conclusions. It assumes that the world is independent of any apprehending consciousness - ‘waiting there’ to be studied and observed.
This paradigm gave rise to the worldview of Newtonian mechanics which beheld a world of separate and discrete objects governed by predictable patterns of behavior.
The discoveries of quantum physicists in the early 20th century turned this assumption on its head by repeatedly demonstrating that at the subatomic level the boundary between object and observer is not at all Newtonian in nature.
At a subtler, subatomic level, scientists were unable to detect an actual subject-object split. The position of an ‘objective’ observer was seen to influence the behavior of the observed object.
Indeed, subatomic particles are closer in nature to waveforms and their behavior is not predictable at all. This means that solid matter isn't really ‘solid’ at all - giving rise to a paradox that is not easily resolved by humanity’s default level of consciousness.
The findings of quantum physics have been successfully applied in the field of technology - in toasters, fluorescent light, computer & mobile phone, biological compass, transistor, laser, microscopy, global positioning system (GPS) and more. But they are yet to significantly impact the practice of medicine, which is still grounded very much in the Newtonian world view.
What we really need therefore is a shift in the worldview - one that would facilitate new means of delivering and practicing medicine, incorporating the findings of quantum mechanics to better the health of humanity.
From a Daoist perspective, relating to an separate, independent world that exists ‘out there’ is futile and exhausting, whereas arriving at a direct understanding of our own nature and our experiences by looking within is called wisdom.
It is the latter that Daoist practices emphasize, and remarkably, their findings are uncannily similar to the quantum picture of reality - which, through observing ever deeper levels of matter, finds no objective ground but only waves of probability and uncertainty.
To get a sense of the astonishing potential of a new synthesis of the Newtownian and Quantum worldviews, let’s explore for a moment how we know what we know.
At any given time, the ‘sense’ we make of the perceptual field depends on the level of consciousness we perceive it with. The human eye for example can only detect a narrow bandwidth of the electromagnetic spectrum. Similarly the ears detect a narrow range of the acoustical spectrum.
Consciousness itself also exists on a spectrum - from our gross waking states to the very subtle levels that manifest only during deep sleep and the death process.
These levels have been discovered, documented and directly experienced by many meditation traditions hailing from the Far East and Indo-Tibetan traditions. When we integrate this into a new world paradigm it will bring tremendous benefits to all.
The profound implication here is that if we’re forever tuned into a very narrow bandwidth of consciousness there must be many other levels we’re currently missing out on. And further, that our fixed and solid sense of ‘reality’ arises from the most superficial level of consciousness - from levels that cannot produce a true representation of the way things really are.
I’ve worked with thousands of people over the past twenty five years. I’ve served as a physician of allopathic and CCM, as well as being a trusted advisor, mentor, and coach to clients in other aspects of their lives. I’ve helped them resolve a wide range of issues ranging from health, relationships, business success and abundance. I’ve seen that no matter what problems or ills we encounter, they can all be resolved by waking up to who we truly are and understanding the real source of all our experiences.
This means learning to let go of an over-identification with socially conditioned personae and emotional reactivity - and coming into an authentic experience of Being instead.
We shall look at what this means in the next instalment of Daoism 101.