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Notes on video lecture:
Wu-Wei, Dao, Tien and De
Notes taken by Edward Tanguay on November 14, 2014 (go to class or lectures)
Choose from these words to fill the blanks below:
natural, focused, everyday, Confucian, Csikszentmihalyi, people, sweet, integration, harmonized, want, doing, microcosm, paradox, beta, spontaneity, choking, agent, morally, Confucius, mindball, interested, effective, trying, emanate, heaven, zone, athletics, arbitrariness, spiritual, elusive, conscious, behaving, very, effort, side, complexity, very, accordance, spontaneous
•
wu wei [OO-way]
•
an important concept in Taoism that means "without " or "without control" or "effortless action", the way beings in harmony with the Tao behave,
•
in a completely natural, uncontrived way, which is the goal of practice for the human being
•
the attainment of a purely natural way of , as when the planets revolve around the sun
•
engaging in effortless and movement
•
wu wei is often translated as "without action" or "no action"
•
not a very good translation because often people who are in wu wei are actually active
•
it is just that their action is effortless and
•
people who are in a state of wu wei often emerge having done something amazing not even realizing at the time that they were doing anything
•
like being "in the " in sports
•
the sense of "being in the flow" an idea popularized in the 1990s by Mihaly
•
lose the sense of yourself as an
•
get absorbed into your activities
•
lose the sense of the passing of time
•
forget that you are something in particular
•
however, there are important differences between wu wei and the flow
•
flow is about , challenge, and the need to be constantly ramped up
•
if an activity is too hard we get frustrated
•
if it is too easy we get bored
•
flow is a channel, a spot right between these two extremes
•
most and highly skilled activities fit this description
•
wu-wei captures a broader range of activities
•
what distinguishes wu-wei from other states is being absorbed in something larger than yourself
•
this bigger thing is something that you value
•
something that is normatively positive, something you believe to be good
•
you become very in the world
•
people who are in wu-wei are in a state of
•
but the English word spontaneity has too much of a sense of
•
wu-wei is
•
but it is not you that is doing the focussing
•
you are no longer the acting agent
•
you can think of wu-wei as an of hot and cold cognition
•
it's body thinking, no thought is necessary
•
wu wei represents being with a greater whole
•
Dao
•
a path, or road, or way
•
beginning with is begins to mean the way of the universe, the proper way
•
when you are in a state of wu-wei, you are acting in with the Dao
•
tian
•
heaven, or heaven's will
•
when you are in a state of wu-wei you are in accord with what wants
•
de [pronounced unfortunately "duh" as in "no duh"]
•
means Virtue
•
a better translation is "charismatic power"
•
a power that you when you are in a state of wu-wei
•
attracts to you
•
as a ruler, it's what makes people to follow you without you having to force them to follow you
•
the paradox of getting to wu-wei
•
explained through a game called " "
•
goal is to relax more than the opposite player
•
the more you slow down your brain activity, the more you relax, the better chance you will win
•
the goal is to push the little metal ball to the other of the table
•
if you get it there, you win
•
the way you push it is through relaxing and thus producing alpha and waves, which is what the electrodes pick up, and thus move the ball
•
it's all the extraneous thoughts that you have to get rid of
•
you win mindball by not to win
•
a good of this problem of how you can try not to try
•
it turns out that trying not to try is not very easy
•
we all face something like the mindball tension in our lives
•
in sports is a version of the paradox of wu-wei
•
how do you make yourself relaxed when you're not feeling relaxed
•
dating
•
it's hard to relax when you feel like you should be performing, being someone who the other person will be in
•
each of the thinkers who think about wu-wei suggest a tension to be wu-wei and get de
•
it is a real so there isn't one solution to it
•
the way ancient philosophers dealt with this tension of trying not to try has bearing on our everyday lives
•
where we want spontaneity but find it
Spelling Corrections:
ellusive ⇒ elusive
Ideas and Concepts:
From the unfortunate pronunciation department, via this morning's Ancient Chinese Thought course: "The last Chinese term we're going to have to learn regarding the concept of wu-wei is a word that is unfortunately pronounced "duh" in modern Mandarin, as in "no duh". It's translated as Virtue with a capital V, but a more accurate translation is "Charismatic Power". Duh, in English spelled d-e, is a power that you emanate, that you kick off, when you are in a state of wu-wei, it's an energy, a kind of aura that you emanate that attracts people to you, so as a Confucian ruler, it's what makes people want to follow you without you having to force them to follow you. If you're a Daoist, it's what relaxes people around you. Duh is something that you need to have to be successful."
New vocabulary via tonight's Ancient Chinese Thought course:
"wu wei [OO-way], n. an important concept in Taoism that means "without effort" or "without control" or "effortless action", the way beings in harmony with the Tao behave, in a completely natural, uncontrived way, which is the goal of spiritual practice for the human being, the attainment of this purely natural way of behaving, as when the planets revolve around the sun, effortlessly revolving without any sort of control, or force, or any attempt to revolve themselves, but instead, engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement.
Wu-wei is often translated as "without action" or "no action" which is not a very good translation because often people who are in wu-wei are actually very active, it is just that their action is effortless and natural.
People sometimes describe the state of wu-wei as the state of spontaneity, but the English word spontaneity has too much of a sense of arbitrariness, wu-wei is focused, yet it is not you that is doing the focusing, as you are no longer the acting agent.
People who are in a state of wu-wei often emerge having done something amazing not even realizing at the time that they were doing anything, it's a bit like being "in the zone" in sports or "in the flow" as in the idea popularized in the 1990s by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow:The Psychology of Optimal Experience", to lose the sense of yourself as an agent, to get absorbed into your activities, to lose the sense of the passing of time, to forget altogether that you are doing something.
However, there are important differences between wu-wei and the flow. The flow is about complexity, challenge, and the need to be constantly ramped up, often used in highly focused sports such as mountain climbing or a difficult mental challenge. If an activity is too hard we get frustrated, if it is too easy we get bored, flow is the sweet spot right between these two extremes.
But wu-wei captures a broader and deeper range of activities than flow. What distinguishes wu-wei from other states of being is that you are absorbed in something larger than yourself, something greater than you which you value, something that is normatively positive, something you believe to be morally good. So in wu-wei, you not only perform a specific task or sport well, i.e. you are not simply being effective in the world, but you have also forgotten yourself in the act of being aligned with the greater good."
"wu wei [OO-way], n. an important concept in Taoism that means "without effort" or "without control" or "effortless action", the way beings in harmony with the Tao behave, in a completely natural, uncontrived way, which is the goal of spiritual practice for the human being, the attainment of this purely natural way of behaving, as when the planets revolve around the sun, effortlessly revolving without any sort of control, or force, or any attempt to revolve themselves, but instead, engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement.
Wu-wei is often translated as "without action" or "no action" which is not a very good translation because often people who are in wu-wei are actually very active, it is just that their action is effortless and natural.
People sometimes describe the state of wu-wei as the state of spontaneity, but the English word spontaneity has too much of a sense of arbitrariness, wu-wei is focused, yet it is not you that is doing the focusing, as you are no longer the acting agent.
People who are in a state of wu-wei often emerge having done something amazing not even realizing at the time that they were doing anything, it's a bit like being "in the zone" in sports or "in the flow" as in the idea popularized in the 1990s by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi's book "Flow:The Psychology of Optimal Experience", to lose the sense of yourself as an agent, to get absorbed into your activities, to lose the sense of the passing of time, to forget altogether that you are doing something.
However, there are important differences between wu-wei and the flow. The flow is about complexity, challenge, and the need to be constantly ramped up, often used in highly focused sports such as mountain climbing or a difficult mental challenge. If an activity is too hard we get frustrated, if it is too easy we get bored, flow is the sweet spot right between these two extremes.
But wu-wei captures a broader and deeper range of activities than flow. What distinguishes wu-wei from other states of being is that you are absorbed in something larger than yourself, something greater than you which you value, something that is normatively positive, something you believe to be morally good. So in wu-wei, you not only perform a specific task or sport well, i.e. you are not simply being effective in the world, but you have also forgotten yourself in the act of being aligned with the greater good."
The paradox of wu-wei experienced through the game of "mindball" via tonight's Ancient Chinese Thought course: "The goal of mindball is to relax more than the opposite player. You win by getting the little metal ball to move to the other side of the table. The more you relax, the more you slow down your brain activity, the more you produce alpha and beta waves, the more the electrodes pick up these waves and move he ball towards the other player. To win at mindball, you have to try not to try to win, a perfect microcosm of the paradox of wu-wei, of trying not to try, since as it turns out, trying not to try is not very easy."
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