Taoism: The Way of Balance

Julia: What can you tell me about the background or history of Taoism? I understand that the written records begin with Lao Tsu?

Michael: There is external, historical evidence of the creation of Taoism — a finite starting point, a tangible point of inscription in the 6th century BCE. But that date probably differs from what was created esoterically. There is an otherworldliness to the inception of Taoism. Its history and origins are complex.

The esoteric portion is 7-10,000 years old and comes out of a huge shamanic component in the Chinese culture that is not normally known. There also is an interdimensional component — a cosmic realm or interface. This view of Taoism is not commonly discussed, but it can be found in the interchange of energy in the exercises and in the art itself.

This shamanic component interprets the relationship of macrocosm and microcosm and the way in which they interact. The workings of the Universe, yin and yang, correlate to each other. The same forces that drive the Universe are what develop us into who we are.

Taoism has a unique interpretation of the cosmos, and yet this interpretation has many parallels with others.

And Taoism has many branches, including the shamanic and alchemical; holistic patterns of physical living; ceremony and rituals; a basis in nature, numerology, music, and art; and its own laws of regulation for protection against the world. This makes it a very rich culture.

Julia: What about texts? Is there one text or many?

Michael: There are many texts, not just one. There is some disagreement as to whether or not Lao Tzu actually wrote the Tao te Ching or if it was written by many scholars from verbal knowledge passing through the ages. There are many canons and great texts as well as masterpiece literary works. Many of the texts were destroyed relatively recently by Mao. A contemporary writer is Eva Wong.

Julia: Can we talk about the esoteric portion?

Michael: If we discuss the otherworldliness, we talk about remnants of knowledge from humans who knew the extraterrestrial Beings that were called the Sons of Light. The teachings reach back to these Beings, who came to China and taught about culture, food, healing, and other subjects.

The discrepancies point to an intervention where humanity was seeded. These Beings had a vision and an agenda. They altered the human genetic makeup or DNA in some fashion to change the way we process knowledge. The Taoists became keepers of the interchange of the Light and the Path.

If you are a good farmer, you plant more than one kind of plant in a patch, and in the same way, the Beings seeded humanity with this knowledge in more than one place. They left their knowledge with the Egyptians, with the Druids and Celts, and in South America and with the Native Americans. There is some universality of evolution, brotherhood, and a Divine Plan working itself out.

Julia: If we speak of a universality of a special knowledge, then it would have to be altered or interpreted by the culture and the geographic location of the people who received it. How did the Chinese culture affect this knowledge?

Michael: If we refer to this knowledge as Taoism, then it was shaped by the Chinese mind. The Chinese have a meticulous mind for detail. This indigenous mindset, through the disciplines of Taoism, increased their ability to notice detail as they become older. They believe that one attains a superior status through attention to detail. Kung, as in Chi Kung (Qi Gong), means refinement, special work, and expertise over time. This is the kind of mindset that influenced Taoism.

Knowledge is valued for either its depth or width. While it can be important to have width and know many things, depth is more important. You can study one thing and go deeply into the Tao.

Julia: You spoke of a shamanism component. How is it associated with Taoism?

Michael: It begins with the shamanistic Chinese — the first shaman forefather as the offspring of his father who has siddha powers. The offspring is born in a magical way from his father's armpit, an equivalent of the womb. The child who has been hatched from his father has his father's magical powers. He can communicate with nature, the stars, and animals, or link Heaven and Earth. This lends a metaphysical side to Taoism that no one talks about.

We tend to think of the metaphysical in terms of gods and deities, and the shamanic experience as a journey with indigenous people — and perhaps taking illegal drugs, like peyote, and having visions.

Taoism concerns a different type of shamanistic experience. I'm speaking of cultured and scientific shamans. They may roll bones and sticks for an I Ching reading, but there is a science to the reading of it.

The Chinese look at the energy of seasons. There is a science of placement or Feng Shui, in which the orientation of objects in a space either complements or diminishes the flow of energy.

There is a system of numerology. Healing rites, rituals, and talismans exist apart from the hard-core materials such as herbs that Western science knows about. The astrology, the ceremony, and the exercises are to prepare one to move into the interdimensional component.

Julia: What is the interdimensional component? How does it relate to the Tao?

Michael: An analogy would be to compare the Tao to a two-sided coin with an empty or passive side, Wu Wei, and, an active side, the Tai Chi. The empty and active sides express the characteristics of the Tao. But just as the coin is more than its components, the Tao is larger or more than either aspect of its characteristics.

Wu Wei is called the Void and, as the Void component, it is the underlying matrix of form and manifestation in the cosmic web. The medium of the universe is an amorphous void. Our reality is tangible. One must flip from one side of the coin to access the Void. You could refer to the Wu Wei as the Non-real Real, and the tangible, linear side as the Real. You need both of these sides to understand the Tao.

The primordial realm is the Void, a place of origin without beginning or end. It is timeless, a place of all of the first causes. In the West, we think everything started with a Big Bang. The Void is a realm where nothing begins or ends. But there are manifestations of cycles, if something is created. Cycles are important to Taoists. You go into the Void to understand cycles.

Within the Void, galaxies and whole other dimensions are available for someone who knows how to travel beyond linear space through psychic cyberspace. These worlds are available either inside the Self or far away.

Just as the spiderweb has space through its interlacing, the cosmic web is layered on space. It can be a matrix for someone who has trained and prepared to have a rapport out of the time-component world.

Julia: You say that something is created in the Void. What is created there?

Michael: To access and align yourself between all things — between duality and non-duality — is to create a flux in the mindfield, and reality can precipitate in that. You can create, through congealed holograms, a form that can acquire qualities of realness in the space-time realm. This is polarization — we are like a sandwich, somewhere in the middle, and we forget that we have the two sides of duality. We can use those sides for creating things in the mindfield that take on reality in the physical.

Julia: Can you explain more about the cosmic web and matrix? Space or the Void is necessary for the spider to weave its web, but each spider web must be created with a specific geometry and linear shape. How does this relate to what you just described?

Michael: The webs can be referred to as pre-conceptual strands, just as laws of formulation exist to move from form to formlessness. The strands are patterns of reinforcement. It is a pre-conceptual realm. Preconception has meaning and turns into form. It is a place where stillness flows into action, where alignment and destiny can meet.

Julia: I thought that balance was stillness. My interpretation is that there is no movement where balance exists. Can you explain?

Michael: There are different kinds of balance and stillness. Balance takes place when there is movement. There has to be movement for an exchange of energy to take place.

Balance isn't necessary unless the Universe wants to have a harmonious exchange. For this exchange to take place, balance is needed.

Stillness is important, as it comes before balance. There is stillness in the spark of motion. For example, stillness has a peak, as does motion. Just as motion creates stillness, when stillness reaches its peak, a spark of motion is set into activity. An example of this in physical manifestation is the hurricane. You want to avoid its path and get out of the rain and destruction, but in the true center of the hurricane there is another reality. There is stillness in the center of the hurricane. The stillness in the center could be referred to as Wu Wei or the Non-real component of Reality.

Balance and stillness are the Tao. Stillness is the balance. Movement and action are related to balance. Balance has a rhythm and brings wholeness to the movement; it can move through the Ten Thousand Things† so that it remains undisturbed.

The stillness of Tai Chi, the other side of the Non-Real Reality/Reality coin, is one whole complete thing of itself, an exploration of the balance and interplay of the Universe. It is intelligent and has an order to it. It is necessary for energy and vitality and the perpetual exchange of yin and yang in mutual transformation. Through this exchange, energy is created.

This is in contradiction to thermal dynamics, which states that energy can't be created or destroyed. The action between yin and yang is energy. It is vitalizing, and it does create something.

Julia: If we compare Wu Wei to the Fifth Dimension and earthly existence to the Third Dimension, are you saying that moving back and forth between these two dimension can create immortality?

Michael: In a way, I am. There is not really a reference to those dimensions by the Chinese, because there are countless worlds and spheres. But we can use that analogy. A Third-Dimensional body, or physical body, is necessary to attain immortality. It is necessary to have the 3D reference points of the physical body, and the changes that occur in the Fifth Dimension must be registered on a cellular level. You have to learn to move inside and outside the box of 3D existence.

The Wu Wei is an endless resource of all possibility. It is a place of congealed holographic patterns. You can locate the Void within yourself and align with the outer Void. This is an endless source of fuel and motivation.

You can expand being inside the box by going into your body. You can imagine the appropriate color and proper season for an organ. You can imagine that energy is going into the organ, and heal yourself through this imagery. This is thinking inside of your Self, inside of the box, to rearrange the physical self. It is also using the cycles for healing.

Another example is the Shen. This is a spiritual part of the body, and resides in the heart. You can use it as a timeless component to stay bound to the body, or step out in sleep or meditation or use it to venture into different aspects of the Self.

Julia: Let's talk about the Tao more generally, and then move toward attitudes or principles in life. What is the Taoist view of reincarnation?

Michael: The Taoists do believe in reincarnation, but not so much in the way that it is currently thought. There is a different school of thought on this, as reincarnation is viewed as a by-product of default. As you awaken, you decide the ramification of transmigration.

The dead continue to evolve in their sphere, just as we continue to evolve here in the Earth experience, but you have to move beyond that. That's the goal or the point of our existence here on Earth. The idea is that you can move out of duality and non-duality.

Julia: My understanding is that the Tao is based on observation of the world of nature. Can we talk about the natural forces in relation to the Tao?

Michael: The conditional realm of Nature has all of the qualities of yin and yang and the qualities of the Void as well as the unifying spirit of balance. There are the woods composed of water, trees, animals, flowers, and rocks, but beyond that there is a Spirit that controls the movement and energy of the parts of Nature. You can actually feel this Spirit as it moves through the parts of the woods.

You can use, recycle, energy sources in Nature to promote the flow of energy within. You look to things like the sun and moon, the waves and tides, the trees — things that are always there. You can borrow from these energy sources to promote growth or increase energy. This is called having "reliable resources."

Julia: What is the Taoist attitude toward one's fellow man?

Michael: Nonjudgment is one focus. The Tao works itself out in each person's life experience in its own way. There are ups and downs in life. You may think that someone is in a "bad way" or disapprove of his or her actions, but you must realize that you may be in the same place tomorrow. We are all human.

It is important to extend virtue if you have the energetic capacity to do so, to lend guidance and support if you can. But you have to decide if you can afford that expense of energy and balance.

And you can't have an attachment about "helping" people — just a willingness to share to the extent that the person is receptive. You can't use force so that the other sees the way you do. It's important to be accepting and nonjudgmental about the outcome of helping other people.

Julia: I understand that collecting energy is an important aspect of the Tao. I think it's interesting that you talk about extending only as much energy as is beneficial. Can you talk about a few of the practices for collecting energy?

Michael: Taoism has practices for protecting spiritual and physical energy. There are many practices. Chi Kung is one. These exercises bring about flexibility, develop the breath, endurance, balance, and coordination.

There are methods of prescribed eating for each season, and methods of controlling the emotions and disposition. These practices lead to more ease, less feeling of being burdened, as one grows older.

The Chinese are largely an agrarian culture, and the way in which the Tao has been developed or understood has been influenced by that culture. It is a way of living in harmony with the cycles. They believe in evolving in the same way that the plants grow — waxing, waning, harvesting, and returning. This is a different progression than that held in Western thought, which is more "one step forward, one back, two steps forward, and one step back."

The Tao is not a linear progression of thought or that sort of process through life. It is organic. There are applicable energy patterns in the seasons, and there also is an emphasis on recycling. The thought is not to conquer nature, but to align with nature. You can transform and borrow and recycle energetically to meet your needs. You can create something new, but it may be more practical to save your energy and rearrange it through borrowing and recycling.

Julia: There seems to be more an emphasis more on balance than on good and evil in Taoism. Can you address this?

Michael: In the West, balance is viewed as fifty pounds in the left hand and fifty pounds in the right hand. In the East, balance is viewed as something dynamic; it is synchronistic and inclusive. Good or bad, right or wrong are considered ends of a spectrum. It is impossible to divorce yourself from the spectrum. It is inclusive. You could have black and white, but you couldn't forget the place that they meet in middle, a place of gradient shades of gray.

Julia: Would you speak about the relationship of Taoists to the feminine?

Michael: There is respect for the feminine side. It is extremely dangerous to live without awareness of the feminine energy. There is a reference for the feminine side in Tai Chi. The female and male sides are both important in a person's experience. Men have written hundreds of canons about the virtues of the feminine principle and emulating the female principle in Nature. Pregnancy and birthing are considered important. Consider the stillness that pregnancy brings to women, how they have to rest and move into the stillness.

Julia: What is your personal formula as a Taoist?

Michael: My formula is to be a wandering Taoist. There are other Taoists I meet who study in the temple, and these could be people that I studied with as a Taoist 2,000 years ago in the same temple. They are still in the temple.

My formula also involves acceptance of both dualities with a keen eye and fascination for the process. I view balance as acceptance, and try to remain open to this, to continue my practices and stay harmonized. The Taoists accept the paradoxical side of life, of duality. Learning to avoid extremes and staying in a place of balance can be acceptance.

Julia: What is the value of Taoism to the individual? In other words, how has it affected your life? Why would you recommend it?

Michael: I find it has a great deal of effect. It naturally moves me into harmony, balance, and flexibility of mind, creating a clear windshield of event/horizon so that I don't get too removed from my margins of harmony. I've developed a longing for calm and tranquility, a state that I want back when I am distanced from it.

So much of what we think important is not. And much of what we think of as real doesn't play the role we think it does — like a tiny atom that can bring about an atomic explosion. We learn all this through the Tao.

Practicing Taoism, one's attention becomes tuned to the intangible. The intangible is important as "efficiency in action." One who studies the Tao can learn to be nonreactive and to thrive in this state.

The Tao because invites flexibility, creativity, sensitivity, tranquility, and balance. It brings the peace and calm that we desire.

Michael Jamison has intensively studied Tai Chi and the Chinese Internal Arts, including Qi Gong, Hsing-I, Ba Gua, and Lui He Ba Fa Form . The owner of Inner Qi Wellness, a comprehensive natural healing practice and martial arts studio in Atlanta, Georgia, he is a doctor of chiropractic and teaches alternative, functional, and Chinese medicine. He also is an accomplished body worker.

Michael may be reached at 404-934-4235 or by email to InnerQiWellness@aol.com.

† "Tao becomes one, one becomes two, two becomes three and three becomes ten thousand."—Lao Tsu, Tao te Ching.