What Is Taosophy?
taosophy is
Non-Attachment • Self-Control • Alignment
...is not a religion...
Taosophy has no rituals nor dogma. It requires no certifications,
no dictates, no accreditations.
There is no organization to join, no meetings to attend,
no monetary dues to pay nor any figurehead to worship.
Taosophy is simply, a melding of the basic tenets of three philosophies--
Taosim, Buddhism and Stoicism-- whose ultimate combined purpose is to
live a life of minimal suffering and maximal alignment with
The Way things are, not how we wish them to be.
Buddhism
Non-attachment avoiding enslavement to anything and living without being touched by it or polluted by it. It is living free from the encumbrances of life and the attractions and distractions it has to offer, not passively by running away from them, but actively by developing equanimity and self-awareness in their midst.
Holding on to things as if you cannot live without them or as if your very happiness and existence depend upon them--these are the mental bonds you develop with things and objects you BELIEVE are important for you and your happiness. Yet they are not.
Your attachments are part of your consciousness. They bind you to the sensory world and limit your vision, knowledge and awareness. They determine your actions, reactions and inactions, your joys and sorrows and your successes and failures.
(adapted from: Jayaram V, hinduwebsite.com
Stoicism
Self-control strength and perseverance as a means of overcoming destructive emotions and behaviors.
This philosophy subscribes to becoming a clear and unbiased thinker by teaching a person to understand REASON.
For the Stoics, REASON meant not only using logic, but also understanding the processes of nature. Living according to reason and virtue, they believed was to live in harmony with the universe and treating everyone in a moral and respectful way.
The four cardinal virtues of the Stoic philosophy are wisdom, courage, justice and temperance which are classifications derived from the teachings of Plato.
As a Stoic philosopher described, those who lack the Stoic values of morality and reason because they refuse to live according to reason and accept others as equals are “like a dog tied to a cart, and compelled to go wherever it goes.”
-Sara Hassman, Parental Alienation Solutions, Founder; www.PAlienation .org
Taoism
Alignment with nature--or The Way. According to the earliest Taoist texts, human nature achieves order, and harmony results. From this perspective, the purpose of self-cultivation is to return to a mode of existence that is natural, that has been obscured by social conditioning.
Humans can deviate from the natural order. When they do so, they bring destruction upon themselves and those around them. Confucian scholars were criticized in the Tao de jing for imposing rules and social expectations. According to the Tao de jing, social mores and threats of punishment cause more harm than good, as they are methods of forcing appropriate behavior rather than allowing it to occur spontaneously and naturally.
Repeating certain actions, such as physical exercises, is a way of training the body so that it is free to react in a spontaneous, natural way — the preparation through repetition makes it possible to act, at a certain moment, without thinking, in pure spontaneity (zi-ran).
Taosophy makes no specific claims regarding the existence of life after death.
Taosophy does however, take the position that living with the hope, expectation or certainty that
there is an afterlife, is a form of the kind of self-imposed suffering, from which, Buddhism encourages avoidance.
Taosophy offers alternative methods and practices that align with reason and empirically based unbiased observations that argue against this expectation.
BUT what about
the afterlife?
taosophy
Taosophy borrows from three philosophies...
