When analysing setbacks, Westerners will immediately look for patterns to avoid in the future. If an employee suffers from excessive stress, was he leading a balanced life? If his back is hurting, is it because he had adopted an unbalanced posture? In his works “Nicomachean Ethics” and “Eudemian Ethics,” Aristotle (384-322 BC) had called for…

It often happens that people speak about bringing their lives in balance because, apparently, they are getting too much of A, and not getting enough of B, whatever it is. When they say that they are getting too much of something, they usually mean that they are not doing enough in that area, or that…

I wish that we could all attain happiness by simply bringing the Yin and Yang into balance. The Yin and Yang doctrine is easy enough to apply. Even determinedly unprincipled people are able to make a list of dichotomies in each situation and find some kind of balance. Unfortunately, such an approach does not work.…

Lao-Tzu didn’t come up with the yin and yang concepts and he would have been appalled at seeing yin-and-yang logos on a martial arts attire. Yang-Tzu would have dismissed the logo as an oversimplification, and Chuang-Tzu would have written a story about people who mistake a logo for deep philosophy. Ancient Taoism provides important insights…

I find it incomprehensible that people try to achieve balance in their lives by sitting on the floor and meditating for hours. I find it equally incomprehensible when someone tries to present poverty as balanced, ignorance as profound, or insouciance as insightful. Blindness, physical or spiritual, is not a popular prescription for happiness; thus, why…

In contrast to the demanding physical and mental training shown in martial arts movies, Taoists do nothing special in real life to achieve balance with nature. By “nothing special,” I mean nothing beyond their normal lifestyle. Why not? Because Taoists view balance with nature as something that should happen automatically. Harmony and balance constitute the…

For the Western mind, Taoist paradoxes are at the same time intriguing and annoying. On the one hand, they may arouse curiosity; on the other hand, they make Aristotelians impatient. If Yang-Tzu, Lao-Tzu, and Chuang-Tzu wanted to convey an key message, why did they not use straightforward words? Taoist paradoxes often rest on the concepts…

The Taoist concept of spiritual enlightenment represents the direct opposite of other philosophies. Instead of a supernatural quest, Lao-Tzu called for earthly alignment with the Tao. Instead of intoning solemn hymns, Chuang-Tzu was fond of listening to the sounds of nature; and instead of ritualistic self-chastisement, Yang-Tzu had emphasised self-protection. I would depict the Taoist…

Balance, physical and philosophical, is the Taoist recipe for mental clarity. It rests on the habit of doing things carefully and with measure, not too fast and not too slowly, not in excess and not insufficiently. In their speaking style, Taoists refrain from exaggeration, in particular when it creates false impressions, hopes or promises. Lao-Tzu…

Denying reality seems like a full-time job for many people. If they are confronted with problems, they will try to play them down and pretend that everything is fine. If the problems grow, no solution will be attempted, hoping that things will return to normal all by themselves. Finally, when the problems become overwhelming, it…