perspectives: general #552

It was my fascination for ancient Chinese, particularly Taoist philosophy that first took me to Taiwan, and later to China to spend years there diving into modern and classical Chinese and exploring traditional Chinese bodymind practices. What can I say? After all these decades I am still fascinated by the depth and scope of Taoist philosophy, and I will continue exploring Taoist thought and write about it.

Yet, at the same time I now can much better understand, why the Tao Te Ching and the Chuang-tzu, notwithstanding the depth of their thought and the ingenuity of their language usage, nevertheless have at the same time such a critical and reserved attitude towards knowledge, language, and the intellect.

All three are fascinating tools accessible to us human beings. They are, however, not our only tools, and they are not the most important and most adequate tools to communicate with everything inside and around us either. A strong focus on special skills and their differentiating aspects, while neglecting integrative abilities is problematic. Ancient Taoists clearly saw this.

If we want to be fully integrated in, if we want to fully integrate ourselves into existence, we human beings also need to access our prehuman foundations (自然、無為). We need to avoid focusing too much on what keeps us apart and a too narrow focus on the “I” (抱一). It simply does not make sense not to use the full repertoire of communicative tools we are given to move in the world. We are given conscious, but we are given even far more subconscious tools for communication and interaction with the worlds inside and around us.

We need to train our complete (sensory) repertoire to take in information and translate it into meaningful action (坐忘、心齋). All this affects our learning styles, taking us away from mechanical techniques to living, and life-giving methods. A physical education that is mechanistic is unlikely to have a holistic output, that is, having a balancing and unifying effect within ourselves, while at the same time physically connecting us with and integrating us into our wider fields.

Within ever more commercially oriented, and commercially sponsored and driven educational systems and their educational training institutions physical fitness is a usable asset within the concept of maximization and narrow-focused management optimization. The fitness industry, for instance, is simply not about health (in a holistic sense). It cleverly arose from the idea of the ability to scale a mechanistic approach with reduced labor costs for profit maximization. The design itself prevents a holistic outcome.

In our general educational systems, our learning and our learning methods are not wide enough, either. They are strangely proportioned out of a feeling of human superiority. They do not fully prepare us—neither individually, nor on a societal level—to be healthy members of a global community of beings who work to keep our planet healthy. With regards to the climate crisis, the mess human beings have created for earth, and the huge tasks we are confronted with, educational systems need to be adapted. Within educational systems a mechanistic physical education is one of many root problems, because it helps to materialize and perpetuate divisive instead of synergistic concepts. Holistic bodymind practices are much better suited to foster a not only physical basis for meaningful human actions.

Different people have different abilities. Others have other abilities or ones exceeding mine by far. Because I enjoy looking at things, it seems to be easier for me to see things. When I take walks and look into the water, for instance, standing there and absorbing details, so many things happen in my mind, in myself emotionally, in my muscles … transforming my bodymind practice, and me performing it and being shaped by it. This then makes me see different things in the water, initiating new experiences, initiating new ways of looking, initiating new experiences, initiating new … ways of sensing … feeling … thinking … practicing … acting …

In such a way, but on multiple levels, a deep individual practice like a bodymind practice does not only represent a way forward to becoming a more seasoned bodymind practitioner and a more unified and healthier individual. As an individual practice incorporated into a social and educational context, it can help to build a sounder basis for meaningful interspecies collaboration and healthier ways to interact on and with our planet.