What is Taoism?

Taoism is the Philosophy and Science of Life & Longevity with over 6,000 years of success. Taoism and Taoists have influenced almost every conceivable topic, training and subject matter from:

• how to manage a home at one end to running a country or nation at the other
• preventing illness in an individual to improving the health of all people
• improving your physical wellbeing to completely elevating the body, mind and spirit

Taoism’s roots did begin in what we now call China, however, Taoism deals with matters that are Universal in nature and apply/can apply to everyone and everything. One of the purposes of these articles will be to explore and “Examine” Taoism in its entirety including; how it applies to current events and in our ever changing “modern” world. We will do this by focusing our attention on the 8 Pillars or subjects of Taoism (The Great Tao by Stephen T. Chang):

• Philosophy
• Internal/Self Healing Exercise (including Taiji Quan aka Tai Chi and Qigong aka Chi Kung)
• Diet & Nutrition
• Herbology
• Healing Arts (Tui-Na, massage, Acupressure, Acupuncture, etc…)
• Sexology (Family planning, Relationships and Complete Achievement)
• Science of Management (from the Individual, Family, Career, Corporate, Nation etc…)
• I-Ching Sciences (Exploring the nature of Change)

What are some of the Influences?

Each of these Pillars or Departments have over time become greatly fragmented and reduced into many fields and specializations. For Instance, many people are familiar with Acupuncture, but many, including Acupuncturists, are unaware that it is only one “twig” of one branch that Taoists call the Healing Arts. Another example is how the knowledge of Herbology and Alchemy inspired and created what we now know as Chemistry; Taoist Philosophy in many aspects has become Physics, Psychology etc… The list of influences, fragmentations and specializations is very long…to long in fact to cover in one article. You can look forward to many exciting and tantalizing articles and perhaps friendly debates and discussions.

So in the nature of Taoists from long ago through today, pull up a chair, and prepare to sip your favorite beverage as we discuss Life & Longevity.

With this I wish all of you Many Blessings on your/our Journey towards Tao; which will be the topic of the next article…What is Tao?.

Enjoy this article? Receive email alerts when new articles are available. Just click on the “Subscribe” button above.