Tao Te Ching Philosophical Viewpoints: Wu Wei Quotes

Don't gloss over this head-scratcher. It's kinda like one of the most fundamental ideas of Taoism. The Tao is the great flow of everything, right? So everything that happens is caused by it. However, according to Taoists, the Tao is the absolute embodiment of unattached action. So even though it's about as proactive as something can be, it acts gently and without judgment or expectation.

We usually think of being weak as a bad thing, but the TTC thinks it's awesome. Think on that for a hot sec. How could allowing yourself to be weak get you closer to the Tao? And how could that idea be attached to the idea of the wu wei, or unattached action?

Don't think this true? Then how about the way water wears down mountains? Or the way a gas leak can creep through city streets? Or squishy little viruses and bacteria can take out whole populations? Yup, it's pretty hard to deny that things that seem soft and weak can have their own kind of power.