Humans have been acting as control freaks for centuries, not born this way, but learned, along with every other destructive habit. What was learned can be unlearned.
As a native Chinese woman, I am very heartened to see this interest in Tao in the west. Thank you Veronika for doing such a thorough and beautiful job of building the bridge. The way opposition or polarities were handled differently by western and Chinese mind has been fascinating myself for decades (yet another polarity arises with these meta structure of the mind). I see that this difference also corresponds to their manifestations in macroscopic, societal power structures.
Finally, also want to note that in Chinese traditions, philosophy is both an intellectual and embodied endeavor too. For example, Taiji, Wuji, or Wu Wei, they are not just intellectual concepts, but also parts of the psychosomatic practices of Tai Chi. When I practice Tai Chi, these concepts come alive in my body in ways that mind can not fathom.
Thank you so much, Spring! I was particularly curious about your feedback to this piece. I am grateful you took the time to read it, and delighted about your appreciative response. 💕🙏
So interesting what you say about the concepts of Taiji etc. being part of the psychosomatic practice of Tai Chi. Having practiced Tai Chi on and off for several years (and more recently various Qi Gong sequences), I can relate to what you are saying.
Which reminds me... my husband and I sometimes use the word 'Tai Chi' in relation to handling difficult situations ~ in fact we use it as a verb, asking ourselves: "How can we taichi this?" (referring to the martial arts side of Tai Chi).
Wonderful writing on difficult concepts for the Western mind to comprehend. I've always thought of Wu Wei as a surrender. Not a giving up type of surrender but a letting go, a relaxing into the motion.
"The difference between the Western active mode and the Taoist Yang mode, is that Western activity assumes a supremacist attitude towards nature and the universe." Just brilliant! I believe the lack of language to describe the experience of being a woman in this world also facilitates efforts to demonize women by naming them (as hysterical, etc. as per Helene Cixous).
Great observation about »the lack of language to describe the experience of being a woman in this world«
'hysteria' = originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women, thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the womb (Greek hysterikos = uterus)
The English language doesn't even have a word for a female human, believe it or not! ~ unlike German, for example, where we have 'Frau' [derived from the Norse goddesses Freya and Frigg]. The English word 'woman' (originally 'wifman') is a description of 'human of female gender' in relation to a male specimen.
Having said that, male humans don't fare much better. The word 'man' was originally used to describe a human being (male or female) as distinction from gods, angels and animals.
Beautiful Veronika…holorhythm is music I want, I pray, all humans can lean into more and more. Just feeling into it now and the noise of my mind tunes itself back into its more natural origin. You’re brilliant, you know that, right?
What a great write-up of the Tao, a completely different way of thinking. And how easily it can be misunderstood by the anthropocentric mind which tries to frame everything in terms of 'opposites' instead of a complementary swirling of life.
Legal systems (U.K & USA) conduct court cases in a very adversarial manner, whereas in other justice systems (eg: the French I think) they try and find out the truth of the matter, rather than conduct such proceedings as 'lawfare'.
The Abrahamic religions have certinly done Western culture a gross disservice. Long due for a radical change of mindset towards a symbiotic way of living.
Oh, I didn't know that about French (or other) justice systems. Vivent les Français!
Once we understand the anthropo- versus symbiocentric mindset and use it as a lens, it becomes so much easier to understand and distinguish different paradigms. I didn't realise this until I started using these perspectives. Without this I would have struggled to get my head around the Tao and its 'nebulous words' ~ let alone dare to write about them.
I think it is more the way Western philosophy has interpreted the Abrahamic religion. Eastern Orthodoxy is so much like what is described in this article only personal loving and an eternal circle of emptying and filling giving and recieving much as nature does giving birth growing dying being reborn
Good point! That is certainly an intensifying factor. Although islamic and judaic cultures are rooted in the same hierarchical and anthropocentric mindset as Christianity.
Eastern Orthodoxy is the faith and way of the Apostles and has been the church of Christ since His time on earth. The Catholic Church split off from the Orthodox in 1054 a lot of interesting history. And just tons and tons of writings preserved ….. I never knew anything about growing up in the US but there is actually the OCA, Orthodox Church of America. So we are One Body of Christ in different regions. I go to St Barbara’s in Fort Worth. Love to you my friend.
Very interesting. I'm aware of the Early Christians in the Middle East, have studied some of the gnostic materials, attended services of Coptic orthodox monks in Jerusalem (on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and Greek orthodox congregation in Bethlehem. But the Orthodox Church of America ~ who knew...? Love back to you 💕🙏
The holorhythm- the stream of life. Letting the right thing do itself carries us home. Spirit that flows through us all. A force. A rhythm. A never ending song. I resonate with Tao. Thanks so much! A great read to wake up to 🙏❤️
I am grateful for each unfolding chapter weaving together more wisdom and context. Taoism resonates deeply. “What I do know is that we all have access to the holorhythm ~ the unspeakable Tao ~ the river of life. We are part of it.” Yes!! Reminds me of John O’Donohue’s poem Fluent, living “like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” 🙏💕
I love this exploration, and am so grateful to have found your substack! I've studied the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching as well as taoist sexual practices, in addition to a rich movement practice based on this very principle of wu wei - letting the movement come through me, not controlling it, but actively receiving; in conversation with the universal rhythm. my body its instrument.
Through my practice I have come to know this universal creative impulse as eros. I feel is as the pulse of desire that animates all of life, breathes life into words, music, paintings, wiggles the leaves on the trees, makes our skin tingle and our mouths water.
I'm so interested to see the name David Bohm here. I have a book called the Holographic Universe that he is referenced in often. I'm feeling compelled to dive back into it!
Thank you so much for such fascinating an thoughtful feedback. You most likely know a lot more about Taoist practices than I do. I am especially intrigued by the movement practice you mention. Is there a name for it?
I absolutely LOVE your description of "the pulse of desire..." ~ it feels like this confirms my choice of the word 'holorhythm' to capture this principle. (Bohm's 'holomovement' feels too linear to me).
I've also had some glimpses of this experience of letting the movement (vibration, rhythm) come through me... through tantric practice. So yes ~ eros ~ is a great word ti describe it. Thank you for adding this aspect to the alchemical thought soup.
I am introducing this principle in the context of Synchronosophy, a discipline (and eventually also a practice) I'm introducing on my parallel substack channel. It's not about taoist principles, but I feel the need to introduce the taoist worldview because it captures so much better what I want to say than the Western anthropocentric paradigm.
So fun to be part of this alchemical thought soup! Is there a link to your other substack channel? I'd love to learn more about Synchronosophy. I agree that the taoist worldview is a much more expansive foundation to explore through... the feeling that we are being lived by something beyond us has been the most empowering shift in my life.
I do love the word holorhythm, too. I like the way it feels to say, the softness and the way it ends on that lovely 'm'.
As for the movement practice, there is no name for it (at least not yet... though I am planning future challenges more focused in the movement realm, so maybe it'll come then). The movement practice is the merging of many forms of movement I've explored over the years, from yoga and dance and climbing to calisthenics and weight lifting. The key is that foundational philosophy of paying attention to and allowing what wants to come through my channel in the moment. Receiving and transmitting eros, the holorhythm, the pulse of desire. Gosh now I'm all excited to teach this stuff!
I publish one wordcast every Wednesday on Symbiopædia (right here)
And one chapter of my book "Synchronosophy ~ a Rough Guide to the Feral Side of Life" on the Synchronosophy channel every Saturday.
My two channels complement each other. One is about words, the other is 'my work'.
So far I have published 12 chapters. After every 6 chapters or so I offer a 'Café Session', each time in a different 'location' ~ time for WuWei and a little breather between all the chapters for my readers and myself. So this Saturday there's a Café Session coming up in Morocco (because, why not?)
Like you, I am also very much into opening space for creative flow ~ that's why I feel such a buzzing resonance with your work 💗
Oooh the cafe sessions sound like such great fun! I'm excited to tune in on Saturday. And I'm really enjoying your explorations of words. Words, their origins, evolutions, and depths of meaning is something I've always been fascinated with. Do we really know what we're saying?
The Art of Magic is next on my list; I have a feeling it'll be a great complement to some pieces I'm working on.
Great post! I learned the wu-wei-way of doing without doing in sketching and my bodywork practise when I left the techniques and strategies, and stopped identifying with being a bodyworker, that freed me to open up for the flow of healing, energy-in-formation and rise of consciousness in and around the bodies, of me and the body on the massage-table, which was quite an amazing journey with a lot of bumps on the road, and now I'm exploring 'the me' in my spirited body-world 🤗 glad I found your Substack!
I'm reminded of a Japanese friend telling me that they have over a thousand gods, more than we can ever imagine, like a god for a falling leaf kind of thing. The interconnectedness of stillness, letting be, openness, chaotic genesis, and movement is both exciting and calming to contemplate. Thank you for reminding us of The Tao and the very different interpretations of West vs East languages.
Oh, how interesting! I've had a Japanese friend for over thirty years... she never told me that... instead, she told me that she and her husband decided to convert from Shintoism to Buddhism because of the many shrines they would have to look after, they couldn't keep up!
No I finally understand why... The god for the penny dropping has spoken 😅
Joking and shrines aside, it's a fascinating concept. And I can totally relate to that. If we think of everything being alive (including so-called non-living objects, like a car, or computer, our house or kitchen table) ~ and including every thought, belief, experience, memory, emotion etc... we can also imagine all these things and phenomena having its own spirit. And from a spirit being to a 'god' it's only a matter of definition.
Thanks so much for popping in, Lani. Always a pleasure to catch up with you, and I'm always learning something new from you 💖🙏
Thank you for this! I love to hear different explanations and I believe Eastern thought is much more open to mystery……. hard to connect to a faceless impersonal uncreated divinity tho
I love this exploration. Reminds me of the Zen concept of "effortless effort." And also my tai chi teacher's description of the origins of the universe: before the Big Bang, there was the Big Silence. And when we sit in meditation, we are listening for that Silence that is the container for everything scattered by the Big Bang... a lovely confluence of East and West, just like your essay. Thank you!!
This gives a different way of putting it if I take this to means something like why to try any other way when I think I am using the right way or if I think that this is the right way. Good read!
Humans have been acting as control freaks for centuries, not born this way, but learned, along with every other destructive habit. What was learned can be unlearned.
Fortunately! Let's keep unlearning... 💕🙏
As a native Chinese woman, I am very heartened to see this interest in Tao in the west. Thank you Veronika for doing such a thorough and beautiful job of building the bridge. The way opposition or polarities were handled differently by western and Chinese mind has been fascinating myself for decades (yet another polarity arises with these meta structure of the mind). I see that this difference also corresponds to their manifestations in macroscopic, societal power structures.
Finally, also want to note that in Chinese traditions, philosophy is both an intellectual and embodied endeavor too. For example, Taiji, Wuji, or Wu Wei, they are not just intellectual concepts, but also parts of the psychosomatic practices of Tai Chi. When I practice Tai Chi, these concepts come alive in my body in ways that mind can not fathom.
Thank you so much, Spring! I was particularly curious about your feedback to this piece. I am grateful you took the time to read it, and delighted about your appreciative response. 💕🙏
So interesting what you say about the concepts of Taiji etc. being part of the psychosomatic practice of Tai Chi. Having practiced Tai Chi on and off for several years (and more recently various Qi Gong sequences), I can relate to what you are saying.
Which reminds me... my husband and I sometimes use the word 'Tai Chi' in relation to handling difficult situations ~ in fact we use it as a verb, asking ourselves: "How can we taichi this?" (referring to the martial arts side of Tai Chi).
Haha, I'd say that is what my partner Joe and I do too ... intimate relational Tai Chi
cloud hands...
Wonderful writing on difficult concepts for the Western mind to comprehend. I've always thought of Wu Wei as a surrender. Not a giving up type of surrender but a letting go, a relaxing into the motion.
Wu Wei as surrender ~ that's an interesting suggestion. It depends what exactly is understood by surrender. Words are such tricky creatures...
Anyway, an illustration of 'Wu Wei in action', so to speak, is included in my next chapter of Synchronosophy (to be published this coming Saturday)
Thank you so much for reading and such thoughtful feedback 💕🙏
Synchronosophy, wow... that's a word I love immediately 💜
what a lovely comment... it makes my heart sing ❤️🔥
"The difference between the Western active mode and the Taoist Yang mode, is that Western activity assumes a supremacist attitude towards nature and the universe." Just brilliant! I believe the lack of language to describe the experience of being a woman in this world also facilitates efforts to demonize women by naming them (as hysterical, etc. as per Helene Cixous).
Thank you so much Jane 💕🙏
Great observation about »the lack of language to describe the experience of being a woman in this world«
'hysteria' = originally defined as a neurotic condition peculiar to women, thought to be caused by a dysfunction of the womb (Greek hysterikos = uterus)
The English language doesn't even have a word for a female human, believe it or not! ~ unlike German, for example, where we have 'Frau' [derived from the Norse goddesses Freya and Frigg]. The English word 'woman' (originally 'wifman') is a description of 'human of female gender' in relation to a male specimen.
Having said that, male humans don't fare much better. The word 'man' was originally used to describe a human being (male or female) as distinction from gods, angels and animals.
Woo-man
Wow! Interesting.
Beautiful Veronika…holorhythm is music I want, I pray, all humans can lean into more and more. Just feeling into it now and the noise of my mind tunes itself back into its more natural origin. You’re brilliant, you know that, right?
Thank you so much, Kimberley! To be seen by another brilliant woman feels like bliss. Thank you for seeing me 💖🙏
What a great write-up of the Tao, a completely different way of thinking. And how easily it can be misunderstood by the anthropocentric mind which tries to frame everything in terms of 'opposites' instead of a complementary swirling of life.
Legal systems (U.K & USA) conduct court cases in a very adversarial manner, whereas in other justice systems (eg: the French I think) they try and find out the truth of the matter, rather than conduct such proceedings as 'lawfare'.
The Abrahamic religions have certinly done Western culture a gross disservice. Long due for a radical change of mindset towards a symbiotic way of living.
Thank you so much 💕🙏
Oh, I didn't know that about French (or other) justice systems. Vivent les Français!
Once we understand the anthropo- versus symbiocentric mindset and use it as a lens, it becomes so much easier to understand and distinguish different paradigms. I didn't realise this until I started using these perspectives. Without this I would have struggled to get my head around the Tao and its 'nebulous words' ~ let alone dare to write about them.
I think it is more the way Western philosophy has interpreted the Abrahamic religion. Eastern Orthodoxy is so much like what is described in this article only personal loving and an eternal circle of emptying and filling giving and recieving much as nature does giving birth growing dying being reborn
Good point! That is certainly an intensifying factor. Although islamic and judaic cultures are rooted in the same hierarchical and anthropocentric mindset as Christianity.
I wonder what you mean by 'Eastern Orthodoxy'?
Eastern Orthodoxy is the faith and way of the Apostles and has been the church of Christ since His time on earth. The Catholic Church split off from the Orthodox in 1054 a lot of interesting history. And just tons and tons of writings preserved ….. I never knew anything about growing up in the US but there is actually the OCA, Orthodox Church of America. So we are One Body of Christ in different regions. I go to St Barbara’s in Fort Worth. Love to you my friend.
Very interesting. I'm aware of the Early Christians in the Middle East, have studied some of the gnostic materials, attended services of Coptic orthodox monks in Jerusalem (on the roof of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre), and Greek orthodox congregation in Bethlehem. But the Orthodox Church of America ~ who knew...? Love back to you 💕🙏
The holorhythm- the stream of life. Letting the right thing do itself carries us home. Spirit that flows through us all. A force. A rhythm. A never ending song. I resonate with Tao. Thanks so much! A great read to wake up to 🙏❤️
You are welcome. 💗 Thank you for resonating and letting the holorhythm carry your poetry and journeysong 🏄
I am grateful for each unfolding chapter weaving together more wisdom and context. Taoism resonates deeply. “What I do know is that we all have access to the holorhythm ~ the unspeakable Tao ~ the river of life. We are part of it.” Yes!! Reminds me of John O’Donohue’s poem Fluent, living “like a river flows, carried by the surprise of its own unfolding.” 🙏💕
Thank you so much Shelly 💕🙏
I wholeheartedly appreciate your presence and companionship.
And what a lovely quote! I am grateful for you.
I love this exploration, and am so grateful to have found your substack! I've studied the I Ching and the Tao Te Ching as well as taoist sexual practices, in addition to a rich movement practice based on this very principle of wu wei - letting the movement come through me, not controlling it, but actively receiving; in conversation with the universal rhythm. my body its instrument.
Through my practice I have come to know this universal creative impulse as eros. I feel is as the pulse of desire that animates all of life, breathes life into words, music, paintings, wiggles the leaves on the trees, makes our skin tingle and our mouths water.
I'm so interested to see the name David Bohm here. I have a book called the Holographic Universe that he is referenced in often. I'm feeling compelled to dive back into it!
Thank you again for a thought provoking piece
xx
Thank you so much for such fascinating an thoughtful feedback. You most likely know a lot more about Taoist practices than I do. I am especially intrigued by the movement practice you mention. Is there a name for it?
I absolutely LOVE your description of "the pulse of desire..." ~ it feels like this confirms my choice of the word 'holorhythm' to capture this principle. (Bohm's 'holomovement' feels too linear to me).
I've also had some glimpses of this experience of letting the movement (vibration, rhythm) come through me... through tantric practice. So yes ~ eros ~ is a great word ti describe it. Thank you for adding this aspect to the alchemical thought soup.
I am introducing this principle in the context of Synchronosophy, a discipline (and eventually also a practice) I'm introducing on my parallel substack channel. It's not about taoist principles, but I feel the need to introduce the taoist worldview because it captures so much better what I want to say than the Western anthropocentric paradigm.
Thank you for being here 💕🙏
So fun to be part of this alchemical thought soup! Is there a link to your other substack channel? I'd love to learn more about Synchronosophy. I agree that the taoist worldview is a much more expansive foundation to explore through... the feeling that we are being lived by something beyond us has been the most empowering shift in my life.
I do love the word holorhythm, too. I like the way it feels to say, the softness and the way it ends on that lovely 'm'.
As for the movement practice, there is no name for it (at least not yet... though I am planning future challenges more focused in the movement realm, so maybe it'll come then). The movement practice is the merging of many forms of movement I've explored over the years, from yoga and dance and climbing to calisthenics and weight lifting. The key is that foundational philosophy of paying attention to and allowing what wants to come through my channel in the moment. Receiving and transmitting eros, the holorhythm, the pulse of desire. Gosh now I'm all excited to teach this stuff!
xx
My Synchronosophy substack channel is here https://veronikabondsynchronosophy.substack.com/
I publish one wordcast every Wednesday on Symbiopædia (right here)
And one chapter of my book "Synchronosophy ~ a Rough Guide to the Feral Side of Life" on the Synchronosophy channel every Saturday.
My two channels complement each other. One is about words, the other is 'my work'.
So far I have published 12 chapters. After every 6 chapters or so I offer a 'Café Session', each time in a different 'location' ~ time for WuWei and a little breather between all the chapters for my readers and myself. So this Saturday there's a Café Session coming up in Morocco (because, why not?)
Like you, I am also very much into opening space for creative flow ~ that's why I feel such a buzzing resonance with your work 💗
Oooh the cafe sessions sound like such great fun! I'm excited to tune in on Saturday. And I'm really enjoying your explorations of words. Words, their origins, evolutions, and depths of meaning is something I've always been fascinated with. Do we really know what we're saying?
The Art of Magic is next on my list; I have a feeling it'll be a great complement to some pieces I'm working on.
'see' you Saturday if not before 🖐️
Great post! I learned the wu-wei-way of doing without doing in sketching and my bodywork practise when I left the techniques and strategies, and stopped identifying with being a bodyworker, that freed me to open up for the flow of healing, energy-in-formation and rise of consciousness in and around the bodies, of me and the body on the massage-table, which was quite an amazing journey with a lot of bumps on the road, and now I'm exploring 'the me' in my spirited body-world 🤗 glad I found your Substack!
How wonderful! Thank you for sharing your experience with sketching and bodywork practice. Yes, we can practice the wu-wei-way in anything we do.
You mention energy-in-formation. That's another important concept in Synchronosophy. You are speaking my language! Lovely to meet you here too 💕🙏
I'm reminded of a Japanese friend telling me that they have over a thousand gods, more than we can ever imagine, like a god for a falling leaf kind of thing. The interconnectedness of stillness, letting be, openness, chaotic genesis, and movement is both exciting and calming to contemplate. Thank you for reminding us of The Tao and the very different interpretations of West vs East languages.
Oh, how interesting! I've had a Japanese friend for over thirty years... she never told me that... instead, she told me that she and her husband decided to convert from Shintoism to Buddhism because of the many shrines they would have to look after, they couldn't keep up!
No I finally understand why... The god for the penny dropping has spoken 😅
Joking and shrines aside, it's a fascinating concept. And I can totally relate to that. If we think of everything being alive (including so-called non-living objects, like a car, or computer, our house or kitchen table) ~ and including every thought, belief, experience, memory, emotion etc... we can also imagine all these things and phenomena having its own spirit. And from a spirit being to a 'god' it's only a matter of definition.
Thanks so much for popping in, Lani. Always a pleasure to catch up with you, and I'm always learning something new from you 💖🙏
That's quite a compliment coming from you! Thank you, I value our exchanges, too, and have so much catching up to do on your other Substack, xo
Thank you for this! I love to hear different explanations and I believe Eastern thought is much more open to mystery……. hard to connect to a faceless impersonal uncreated divinity tho
I love this exploration. Reminds me of the Zen concept of "effortless effort." And also my tai chi teacher's description of the origins of the universe: before the Big Bang, there was the Big Silence. And when we sit in meditation, we are listening for that Silence that is the container for everything scattered by the Big Bang... a lovely confluence of East and West, just like your essay. Thank you!!
What great observations! Yes. The 'effortless effort' of Zen buddhism sounds very much like the Wu Wei of the Tao. Thank you, Chelsea 💕🙏
This gives a different way of putting it if I take this to means something like why to try any other way when I think I am using the right way or if I think that this is the right way. Good read!