Today’s mainstream philosophy constitutes the opposite of the Taoist idea of happiness. Why? Because today’s dominant beliefs are hardly reconcilable with the Tao, as depicted in the Tao Te Ching.
What do I mean when I say “today’s dominant beliefs”? On the one hand, the idea that everything is relative, that there are no universal moral prescriptions, and that nobody can reliably forecast the long-term effects of one’s decisions.
On the other hand, the belief that we should set objectives for ourselves and pursue them relentlessly, day after day. This belief goes hand in hand with making minute plans, so that we can carry them out and constantly measure our progress.
Not everybody subscribes to the beliefs that I have outlined, but many people do, and few will find them questionable, false or ethically wrong. I am not aware of statistical measurements proving the prevalence of these beliefs, but I see them at work in my daily experience.
Why do Taoists oppose those ideas? Is it because Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu lived in Ancient China, and proved unable to come up with better ideas? Is it because the Tao Te Ching is unsuitable for living in an industrial civilization?
No, the responses to those questions relate to human nature, which hasn’t changed since the times of Lao-Tzu. Today’s idea of happiness is incompatible with Taoism because it assumes a fundamental change in human nature due to industrialisation.
Reasons for the discrepancies
I regard such an assumption as faulty and dangerous. If the dominant beliefs of our century were true, we wouldn’t have to face widespread dissatisfaction, alcoholism and other types of drug abuse. We would also not have to face widespread anxiety and other signs of psychological maladjustment.
Let us explore the reasons for the discrepancies between the Taoist concept of happiness and today’s dominant beliefs. If we read Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching, we can easily identify the root of the discrepancies. I’m referring to the Taoist view of the role of the individual.
Today’s mainstream philosophy places a massive burden on everybody’s shoulders. It expects each person to determine his own identity and long-term goals, and take relentless action to reshape the world and achieve those goals.
Hollywood movies often recount stories that reinforce those beliefs. If you give credence to those stories, you’ll be tempted to accept that anyone can win at heavyweight boxing, business creation, investing, romantic love and car racing, and recover from any illness or setback.
In Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching, Lao-Tzu enunciates the opposite principle, namely that we should live according to our nature, instead of trying to change ourselves and the world. To illustrate this principle, Lao-Tzu uses the cup’s metaphor.
If we mould clay into a cup, it becomes useful for drinking, but we do not drink the cup itself, only the liquids inside. What becomes useful to us, argues Lao-Tzu, is not the cup itself but the empty space inside. That’s the space we can fill with water or other liquids.
We are the empty space in the cup, so to speak. We become our very best by choosing what to pour into the cup, when and at what price. Similarly, we can decide when to drink from the cup, or not drink at all, or use the cup for watering our plants.
The metaphor of the cup
The cup symbolizes our environment or framework. Taoists do not view the cup as unchangeable, but more often than not, it simply takes too much work to reshape or replace the cup. In the Taoist approach to happiness, all questions revolve around how to employ the cup optimally.
Since the times of Lao-Tzu, Yang-Tzu and Chuang-Tzu, the human lifespan has remained fairly constant. People today may live a bit longer than in Ancient China, but does this justify the effort of reshaping or replacing the cup?
Today’s mainstream philosophy directly collides with Lao-Tzu’s metaphor of the cup. Instead of telling people to focus on how to use the cup, it places on them the burden of reshaping it or replacing it, not only once, but as often as necessary.
It goes without saying that, if we use our energy and time to reshape the cup, we will limit our possibilities to put the cup to any practical use.
During the periods of cup reshaping or replacement, we will not have energy left to do anything else. All our resources will be consumed by the structural changes, and during those, we’ll be unable to use the cup for drinking and watering our plants.
The problem compounds when we realize that other people may have different plans for the same cup. Some will want to discard the cup altogether and replace it with a fountain; others will ask to make the cup smaller to reduce water consumption.
When those conflicts emerge, we will have to devote lots of time and energy to keeping the cup intact, so that we won’t find ourselves deprived of the possibility of drinking water. Anxiety and stress will be regarded as normal in such a context.
It’s hard to argue that endless discussions about the cup will contribute to our well-being and happiness, and that’s why the Tao Te Ching focuses on the cup’s usage. In the time it takes to conduct those discussions, we could use the cup to drink water a thousand times.
Today’s mainstream philosophy drives people to concentrate on reshaping or replacing the cup. The efforts to do so are large and incessant, but do they lead to happiness? Do they allow us to drink more water or water our plants more frequently?
Taoists are reluctant to devote their resources to replacing or reshaping the cup because they have better things to do. They’ll go to great lengths to use their cup as effectively as possible in their lifetime, but they refuse to take any additional burden.
Every ancient Taoist story revolves around the best use of a cup, home, river, boat, horse, or any other element, tangible or intangible, available to humans. The Taoist path to happiness is profoundly practical because it reckons the cost-benefit of our actions realistically and accurately.
If you are interested in applying effective ideas to all sorts of situations, I recommend my book “Consistency: The key to permanent stress relief.”