This Goes Nicely With The Last Post. It's Nice When Themes Show Up In My Feed.

This goes nicely with the last post. It's nice when themes show up in my feed.

Daoism as Religion

I am not a religious person. I do not consider myself spiritual. To be honest, I’m not sure I consider myself to be particularly faithful (in the religious/spiritual sense, I’m not a cheater!). Is this against Daoism?

I don’t believe so. True Daoism isn’t really a religion, in any sense of the word. There are no deities, no rituals, not even really a code of conduct. It isn’t the same as Zen or Shinto or any of the other East Asian spiritual traditions that it is so commonly associated with in the modern world. Daoism is, quite simply, a guide on how to live one’s life without the stress and worry that came with the alternatives of Laozi’s age, namely Confucianism and Buddhism. Like many famous old texts, there is even debate on whether the old man wrote it himself, or if he existed at all (but that’s a story for another time, I think). So how did Daoism get to be associated with religion at all?

Well, here’s where things get complicated, and the issue of labeling what is and what isn’t Daoism can be problematic. Somewhere deep in China’s long and storied history, the religions of the land needed to be categorized, and Daoism, being an odd sort of duck, was lumped together with many of the shamanistic folk practices of the common people. From here we see the rise of institutionalized Daoism, with churches and rituals and all the trappings of what we would call a spiritual tradition.

But if you look at the core of the book, of the themes it encourages, this is against the very nature of the Path. It is unnecessary for the people of the world to organize groups or schools around the concepts of individual exploration, and perhaps even detrimental to the act of discovering the Path for oneself. The story goes that Laozi was hesitant to even write the book, as it creates a structure in and of itself. The conundrum is understandable, especially looking back at what’s happened over the last couple thousand years.

I believe that true Daosim, in order to focus on the core idea of letting all discover and walk their own way along the Path, should avoid this sort of idolatry. This includes venerating the old man and the book, to avoid being a Lao-ist, as it were. It’s great to have the teachings there, don’t get me wrong, but as I mentioned earlier, the authorship is under a healthy discussion as it should be, and we should look at the teachings as less a strict code, and more like guidelines, really. If there’s any sort of faith to Daoism, it would be the faith that the Path is leading us all somewhere better than where we currently are, or that everyone will eventually find their way to it and then things will be good. But that faith isn’t necessary to living your own life in accordance with your own personal Dao.

Just as a disclaimer, in no way am I saying that religion shouldn’t exist, or that the religious schools of Daoism are bad or harmful. Things turned out the way they did for a reason, this is part of the Path. Obviously, religion does a great deal of both help and harm to peoples’ lives, and this is the way I believe it is supposed to be. What I’m saying is that Daoism exists separate from wherever people choose to place their faith, and can complement or contrast with any personal spiritual belief you may have.

Before committing a great deal of time, money, or energy to solving a problem, it is wise to look for the true problem you are trying to solve. We must always seek to look past illusions, after all.

Heh.

quite succinct.

What are you studying in college?

I completed my undergraduate studies in Environmental Policy, with a focus on the International side of things. I had originally started as an Environmental Sciences major because I wanted to study dinosaurs, but I didn't apply under Evolutionary Biology (the naming of majors was a bit confusing, so I figured I'd just change it later). In my first couple years of college, however, I failed my math and science courses pretty badly, and I started questioning whether doing hard sciences was right for me. I met with my adviser a number of times, switching my focus from Environmental Sciences - Biology to Environmental Sciences - Sociology, and then finally to Environmental Policy, which avoided the math and chemistry classes I had struggled with.

On one hand, I suppose I could have kept pushing ahead on my desire to be a paleontologist and studied harder, stayed up later, and basically just fight my way into the industry. But my adviser said something at one of our many meetings that really stuck with me over the years. She explained that as we talked, I was so much more excited and animated talking about people and their relationship with each other and the environment, much more than when I was talking about wanting to be a biologist. She told me that to her, it seemed silly that I would try and push myself to study something I didn't seem that interested in, when it was obvious I would rather be studying people.

Strangely enough, even after I had this moment of clarity, I still had a bit farther to go to fully realize where I belonged or what I wanted to do. At the time I was working with the college newspaper, and drawing editorial cartoons, laying out pages, and doing other production related things. I was drawing my own comics on the side, and felt like I would much rather be an artist than be in school, drawing cartoons and comics for people to enjoy the world over. I had always struggled with this part of myself, because I had this sense of duty to the world, especially after deciding to study Policy. I felt like I would be wasting my potential to just sit around and draw, that I would be selfish by taking myself away from a field where I could really help people.

This all changed after I saw Pixar's Wall-E. To this day, that film holds a special place in my heart because it showed me that I could find a third option, that I could make art and draw cartoons and make the world a better place all at the same time. It dawned on me that other cartoons had been doing it all along and I just never noticed (Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke come to mind), but they had played their part ever so subtly in getting me to this point. I had done a couple internships with environmental non-profits and wasn't feeling especially jazzed about working with groups like that for the rest of my life. I would have switched my major at this point, but to be perfectly candid the art department at my college wasn't that great, and from what I had heard it was better at helping you conceptualize your art than it was at improving your skills.

So fast forward a few years, and here I am, currently pursuing a Master of Fine Arts degree in Storyboarding at art school. It fits everything that I've ever wanted to do in my career, from drawing cartoons to telling stories to changing the world. It's been a bit of a winding road getting here, but I think that every step along the way has been necessary in putting me where I needed to be for the next step. This, of course, is part of walking the Path.

“The concept of portraying evil and then destroying it - I know this is considered mainstream, but I think it is rotten. This idea that whenever something evil happens someone particular can be blamed and punished for it, in life and in politics, is hopeless.”

- Hayao Miyazaki