Wu wei, Flow & Effortless Action

scientists have discovered a strong correlation between the strength of a person’s PFC and their success in life. However, goal orientation takes us far from the Taoist ideal of wu-wei. Zhuangzi, recognizing this, appropriately called the first chapter of his classic ‘Going Rambling Without a Destination’.22

How would you perceive the world if you were looking for patterns around you without interpreting them? How would you make sense of your present experiences if you were oblivious to their antecedents or future implications? Researchers have discovered that this is how the right hemisphere perceives reality. It focuses on spatial patterns between

Wu-wei, therefore, is different from the Western Romantic notion of simply ‘letting yourself go’ and acting spontaneously on your emotions. Rather, it’s the result of the disciplined cultivation of the connections between the ‘I’ and the ‘self ’, so that your entire organism is harmonizing both within and with the environment.

Wu-wei is thus the life-style of one who follows the Tao, and must be understood primarily as a form of intelligence—that is, of knowing the principles, structures, and trends of human and natural affairs so well that one uses the least amount of energy in dealing with them. But this intelligence is, as we have seen, not simply intellectual; it is

The full experience of wu-wei occurs, not so much when we’re on autopilot, but when we integrate automatic activity with conscious attention. In terms of dual system theory, wu-wei happens when both Systems 1 and 2 are in smooth synchrony. As Slingerland describes it, ‘for a person in wu-wei, the mind is embodied and the body is mindful; the two

According to this theory, the earliest humans lived in harmony with the natural world, but a certain type of uniquely human cognition arose that caused a separation from nature. This form of mental activity permitted language, goal orientation and planning, thus creating the foundations of culture that led eventually to civilization, along with

But it should be understood that Alan never saw “the watercourse way” in human affairs as a flabby, irresponsible, lackadaisical manner of living. The stream does not merely move downhill. The water, all moisture, transpires from the earth, streams, rivers, the ocean, to the upper air, a “breathing out,” and then there is the “breathing in” when

MAGISTER LIU

Soft and Gentle

Prevail.

Water wends its way

Gently

Round every obstacle,

Avoids Heights,

Sinks to Depths,

Bends with curves,

Fills and pours,

Fits into Square and Circle,

Into Small and Great,

Into springs and rivers,

Smoothing the Surface of things,

Accepting all manner of Filth,

Containing gold,

Extinguishing fire,

Bringing Life

To plants and trees,

S