On Being Nothing – Stuart Wilde (Audio Lecture)

On Being Nothing – Stuart Wilde

In this audio lecture, Stuart Wilde talks On Being Nothing. Nothing is a concept of the philosophies of Taoism. Stuart’s old teacher was a Taoist. He taught of the old sages in China and their wisdom and their gentle ways. There is a concept in Taoism called wu wei—non action.

Wu Wei

It is an important concept in Taoism that literally means non-action or non-doing. In the Tao te Ching, Lao Tzu explains that beings (or phenomena) that are wholly in harmony with the Tao behave in a completely natural, uncontrived way.

As the planets revolve around the sun, they “do” this revolving, but without “doing” it. As trees grow, they simply grow without trying to grow. Thus knowing how and when to act is not knowledge in the sense that one would think, “now I should do this,” but rather just doing it, doing the natural thing, is the way. The goal of spiritual practice for the human being is, according to Lao Tzu, the attainment of this natural way of behaving.

The Middle Way

Stuart said that aligning to nature and its softness is the middle way. It involves no struggle or confrontation. You can act coherently in life, but you do not need to force your way along. Why? Because the emotion of trying to force your way often pushes things away from you. It’s like the Zen philosophy, it’s a solid calm, it’s the way of love and the path of least resistance. The Tao is full of love because it respects animals and nature, and other humans. Also, in the calm of the middle way you can communicate more clearly with yourself, aware of your feelings and intuition.

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