Expert: Joe McSorley - 2/28/2006

Question
Hello,
I am a student in an Eastern philosophy course.  I have a few questions pertaining to Taoism and your experiences with the religious theory.  My assignment is to interview an expert in some field of Eastern religion.  Would you mind giving me a little background on yourself?

Question 1:   What do you find is the most important element gained from the study of Taoism?

Question 2:  Do you feel that the Taoist philosophy is applicable in today's Western culture?

Question 3:  We had an assignment where we were to  determine what Taoism would recommend for a particular situation.  In this situation what do you think is the Taoist philosophy's opinion of the right path?

Government officials want to allow large housing tracts to be built in an undeveloped rural area.  Most people in the area do not want the housing development to be built because it would disrupt the local ecosystem and destroy the area?s natural beauty.  Despite the opposition, government officials intend to allow the development because they have received secret campaign contributions from the construction companies that will build the development.

Thank you very much. I hope to hear back from you shortly.
Sincerely,
Rori Smith


Answer
Question 1:   What do you find is the most important element gained from the study of Taoism?

To know who you are in relationship to all life and the interdependence of all living things upon one another.

Question 2: Do you feel that the Taoist philosophy is applicable in today's Western culture?

Yes, since we are entirely out of touch with our relationship to the world.  Issues like global warming and geo-political strife arise because of this.

Question 3: We had an assignment where we were to determine what Taoism would recommend for a particular situation. In this situation what do you think is the Taoist philosophy's opinion of the right path?

Government officials want to allow large housing tracts to be built in an undeveloped rural area. Most people in the area do not want the housing development to be built because it would disrupt the local ecosystem and destroy the area?s natural beauty. Despite the opposition, government officials intend to allow the development because they have received secret campaign contributions from the construction companies that will build the development.

First of all this is an unethical situation which almost any religion would find untenable and wrong.  A Taoist approach would be to find a harmonious relationship between the environment and human occupation.  In Western society and increasingly in Eastern society humans have no regard for the environment or any other life forms.  As a result they wreck havoc on the environment, which results in later catastrophes that take human life like the droughts in Africa and the recent mudslide in the Philippines due to illegal logging.   Those who take all life in regard rather than just having a chauvinistic human approach tend to lose in these types of battles.  There is nothing more dangerous than ignorance.

 take care,
         Joe