Uncertainty and Spirituality | Tao Te Ching | Chapter 1 Line 1
We live in uncertain times; no surprises there, but right now uncertainty is amplified for pretty much everyone. In times of uncertainty, people turn to religion and spirituality as a desperate attempt to understand what comes next. Personally, I don’t understand religion and why people submit themselves to spirituality with such passion. I do understand that the idea of spirituality is a comforting one; to know that there is a higher power which makes sure that whatever happens, happens for a reason seems like a beautiful thought. As comforting as that thought maybe, I disagree with it and it is precisely what shapes my opinion on religion.⠀
Every scripture I know of preaches certainty. “God” is always shown as an “all-seeing”, “all-knowing” figure who preaches that certain activities will lead to a better life, while some will lead to eternal damnation. Sometime last year, I picked up this book called “Tao Te Ching” primarily because it’s cheap, and it looks cute. It is also amongst the most translated pieces of literature, so I’m curious about the hype around it.⠀
To me, the first chapter is about uncertainty, and how the concept of “Tao” helps people deal with it. Tao Te Ching has a very different approach to dealing with such uncertainties when compared to other spiritual texts. While some religions might suggest following certain rules and restraints, the first line of the Tao Te Ching talks about “Tao” (which literally translates to “the way”) and how it cannot be explained in words. Just like emotions cannot be explained with words, the authors argue that the Tao “cannot be named”. You can feel and know emotions like love and anger, however, words can never do them justice. These are small examples of knowledge that exist in a purely non-intellectual form, and therefore is impossible to truly describe. There is a deep-rooted, and unavoidable mystery in our mere existence and words cannot describe it. ⠀
I believe most of the people who will read this are at a similar stage in life as I am; we’ve taken the steps that we were told we should take for a “career”, however now that we’re here, we face this weird pandemic situation where most of us are just stuck. It’s not like anyone has done anything wrong to be in this situation, yet here we are. I used to be someone who calculated and planned every minor move in my life, but it took me a really long time to realise that there are an infinite amount of variables at play which I can never account for. For an even longer while, this single fact that I don’t control the outcome of my actions gave me a lot of anxiety and I struggled to even take any action fearing an unfavourable outcome (which is without a doubt a shitty way to live life). As weird as it may sound, eventually I was just tired of the anxiety of decision-making and I decided to just say fuck it, and do whatever felt right in the moment. To be completely honest that approach was greatly inspired by some random stoic philosophy that I read somewhere, but I digress. Now, as I read this single line from Tao Te Ching, I am reminded of the same thoughts I had when I said “fuck it” years ago.⠀⠀
We are obsessed with the concept of controlling probability, so much so that ever since we were kids we’ve been wished “good luck” before anything remotely important. Did you know that there is no way to truly say “good luck” in Japanese? Instead of wishing someone luck, the Japanese people say 頑張って (ganbatte), which means “Do your best!” or 気をつけて (ki o tsukete), which means “Be careful”. I couldn’t think of any word in Hindi which carries the same intention as “Good Luck” either, but I might be wrong. Let me know if you know of any Hindi word which does carry the same meaning and intention, I would love to be proven wrong. ⠀
Regardless, maybe that is what we need more in life; to ignore the certainty which is preached, and embrace uncertainty instead of hopelessly fighting it.⠀
Maybe this is what the first line of Tao Te Ching means, to just do your best and let Tao handle the rest of it.
