Is it true that Taoists are rugged individualists that could not care less about social harmony and balance? No, that’s not true, but the question illustrates a common misunderstanding of the nature of harmony and balance.
In contrast to the prevailing ideas, Taoists consider societal harmony and balance as automatic. Harmony is achieved when millions of people interact with each other peacefully, buying or selling goods and services, and establishing friendships.
In this manner, balance is achieved automatically when vast numbers of people freely decide what to do with their lives, in which field to work, which skills to acquire, what to eat, where to spend their holidays, whom to marry, and so forth.
The portrayal of Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu, Chuang-Tzu and other Taoists as rugged individualists assumes, wrongly, that societal harmony and balance must be imposed. It assumes that people cannot achieve harmony and balance automatically; and calls for some superhuman entity that tells everybody what to do.
The Tao Te Ching and social balance
Chapter 16 of the Tao Te Ching describes the Taoist views on harmony and balance. If we let the world “emerge, flourish, and decay naturally,” the result will be beneficial, affirms Lao-Tzu. On the contrary, if we fail to understand the process and interfere with it, the results will be catastrophic, he warns us.
The principle applies flawlessly to the interactions between a few individuals, an extended family, a village, a town, a city or society as a whole. Individuals will automatically generate harmony and balance by means of what they do and what they refrain from doing.
Taoists do not equate harmony and balance with perfection. They understand that there is no reason for things to be perfect all the time, and that other people may hold different views on the meaning of perfection.
How much should one eat exactly, and how many meals per day? How many hours should we sleep per night, and should it be the same number of hours in winter and summer? How long should the perfect holiday last? One week, two weeks?
Chuang-Tzu considered it foolish to expect each question to have only one answer. I’m referring to questions about subjects where individual tastes and preferences play a decisive role; no one can seriously claim that, in order to achieve social balance, we need to ensure that everybody gives the same answer.
According to Chuang-Tzu, social balance is not determined by impositions, constraints or mythologies. Balance “emerges” when the free actions of people automatically point in a certain direction.
Chuang-Tzu: wood carving and social balance
What is the balanced price for a house, a motor vehicle, or a hamburger? It is the highest price that purchasers are willing to pay, and the lowest price that sellers are willing to accept. It depends on factors such as inventory levels, interest rates, cost of energy, weather, seasonal influences, etc. Some factors play a large role and others are accessory.
Social balance “emerges” in the same manner. We shouldn’t try to push it to the north, south, east or west; nor try to push it upwards or downwards. In history, every attempt to manipulate the social balance has ended disastrously.
Let us respect nature, the free will of individuals, and their capacity to think for themselves. Thus, we should be willing to accept the result of their choices as “socially balanced,” even if it contradicts our personal views.
Taoists are committed to accepting the outcome of people’s free choices as balanced, irrespective of any deficiency, error, or prejudice. Respecting people means respecting their ability to make rational choices, if they want to.
Thus, the freely achieved social balance constitutes the best combination of individual choices at any given moment. Yet, a moment later, the balance may change because each individual can keep learning and making better choices next time.
Chuang-Tzu compared the natural emergence of order with wood carving. How did the master carve a beautiful sculpture? By using his intuition and allowing, little by little, the shape to emerge. “If the master had worked too forcefully or too fast, he would have damaged the woodblock.”
Taoism and Turgot on social balance
Curiously enough, it took Western thinkers many centuries to figure out what Lao-Tzu had already understood: that social balance needs to be established freely, not through impositions. If we fall prey to the temptation of improving nature, we will cause problems across the board.
Anne Robert Jacques Turgot (1727-1781) was the first man in Western history to occupy a high position and who had fixed himself the objective of letting the social balance emerge on its own, unimpeded by constraints or impositions.
Although Turgot was not familiar with ancient Taoism, his study of economics had enabled him to gain insights similar to those of Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu.
Turgot’s work “Reflections on the Creation and Distribution of Wealth” (1769) calls for complete freedom to produce, sell and purchase, in the conviction that the resulting social balance would be, at any given point, the best that can be achieved.
Lao-Tzu had presented those ideas in Chapter 57 of the Tao Te Ching, although in a more straightforward manner. Turgot’s book is more sophisticated in terms of economic reasoning, but Lao-Tzu had come to the same conclusion: restrictions distort the social balance and lead to poverty.
Twenty-four centuries before Turgot, Lao-Tzu had already grasped that social balance emerges “without any plan at all.” I admire in particular the sparse, tight formulation given in the Tao Te Ching. In a few sentences, it conveys insights that took Turgot years to figure out.
How did Turgot fare in his attempt to let the social balance emerge freely? We will never know because Turgot was fired from his job (or politely told to sign a resignation letter) before he could put his ideas into practice. His reform attempts were proscribed and forgotten immediately after his dismissal.
After losing his job, Turgot retired to live in the countryside and devoted himself to reading books and little else. He passed away five years later, still wondering why no one else was able to grasp the superior benefits of a freely shaped social balance.
Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu would have explained to Turgot the difficulties of convincing anyone to accept ideas that contradict mainstream prejudice. They would have viewed it already as miraculous that Turgot managed to stay in office for a few years before being dismissed.
How many people today subscribe to the Taoist perspective on social balance? And how many know the works of Turgot? I don’t know the number, but as long as there are individuals interested in philosophy, there is a chance that ancient ideas can be given some consideration.
If you are interested in putting effective insights into daily practice, I recommend my book “The 10 Principles of Rational Living.”