Taoism doesn’t feel like a very big shift for me, behaviorally speaking. It’s not that I do tai chi and meditate all the time, it’s that I tend to be very calm and balanced. I assess things and take my time to understand them, I’m soft spoken and it’s very hard to raise my temper.  I listen closely to my own body to figure out what it is I want to do, what I want to eat, etc.

Taoism calls for all of these things, but the difference is that Taoism begins and ends with the Tao, the Way, from silence and emptiness.  This is the onus for all the actions of the Sage (the perfect Taoist).  I don’t really know why I am the way that I am, as far as I know I’ve been this way most of my life.  I discovered the Tao-Te Ching early in my life, before I started reading any other philosophical or religious text, and some of those passages have been with me ever since.

So the Tao-Te Ching may be the reason for me acting the way that I do, it may have influenced my behavior in some way, but it was not through any meditation or deep insight.  It just made sense, and it still makes sense.  More than that, it just feels good.

I read the Tao on my way home from work today and I started to feel… well, almost high.  Not like disassociated or elated or giggly or anything.  I was still very much in control of all my faculties.  But I felt warm, reassured, and happy.  Just reading this thing makes me feel at peace.  It’s like it is strumming the chord of my being, and all I can do is sit back and hum.

So to recap, I may have Taoist-like tendencies, but I don’t think that counts unless it comes from the right place.  Knowing my desires through and through does not make me the master of them, but I think it’s fair to say that I’m starting this from an advantageous position.