Expert: Joe McSorley - 2/28/2009

Question
I've been studying Daoism's strong connections with nature and also the aspect of wuwei, ('action through non-action'). I was curious about a situation where these two aspects would intersect.

Which is more important in Daoism; the connection to nature, or the realization of wuwei?

Answer
Hello Clo,
    Forgive me if I sound nitpicky here but it’s not that we are connected to nature, we are nature disconnected from itself.  We are not apart from nature and trying to get back to it, we fundamentally are nature and think we are apart from it. The paradigm in the West is; God – man –nature but n the East it is; nature=man=nature.  We are nature that has become estranged from itself due to human consciousness which causes us to think we are apart from nature.  When we realize ourselves as nature we then move un-self consciously as nature or wu wei.   So realizing our self as an expression of nature and moving consciously unconscious are part and parcel, they cannot be separated.  One is not more important than the other; one is the expression of the other.  It’s like realizing your fingers to be your hand.
  I hope this has helped you.  Let me know if you need me to explain it further.
            Joe