 Daoism, the philosophical study of flow. Lao Tzu, the Dao Tjing, been studying this a lot more recently. That which offers no resistance, overcomes the hardest substances. That which offers no resistance, can enter where there is no space. Let's start with Wu Wei. Wu Wei means non-action, effortless action, or action of non-action. Wu Wei is the state of flow, being in the zone, having action without striving. Move through space and time without action, flow in its natural course. The Tao Tjing is actually the most translated work after the Bible. The Dao means the way. And we have a lot of limitations in our perception of understanding what is this the way. The Dao that can be described is not the eternal Dao. In many ways it feels as though the Dao is from the moment of creation until now and where it's going. And are we on the Dao or have we veered off the Dao? It's a very interesting question. Is maybe the Dao exactly where we are now? Or was the Dao, or is it potentially this more pinnacle civilizational evolution where we have more actualization both as ourselves and our collective, where there's less malevolence. Another big part of Daoism is the curbing of the senses, this ascetic mentality, asceticism, where you give up the urge for the sensual pleasure. So jumping around all the time, can I get some food? Can I have some sex? Can I go and have something that's this transient immediate gratification experience versus the I'm just going to recognize that that instant gratification pleasure came up and I'm just not going to react to it. I'm just going to be with it. I'm not going to go and go after my impulse right away. And that's why in a world where we're so overfed and we're so overstimulated these ancient practices of meditation, of fasting, and of focus actually have the greatest potential at helping us identify what our most creative potential is on this planet. Can we have the stillness of mind that is so discussed in the Dao? Can we have the humility, the sensation of striving? So it's that we both know that we will be expressing this beautiful gift of ours into the world, this North Star but that we can effortlessly flow like water towards that North Star. And this is difficult. There are so many times when we want to do some sort of an action, I have to do this right now what if we flowed like water through that action and that we were in a constant state of flow with our journeys. It's the idea that perception and understanding come to a stop and instead spirit moves us. This is delicate balance between Kronos and Kairos too where with Kronos it's all about the time and with Kairos it's about this flow like the river and so we know that if we make a plan with someone that we want to be on time for that and we keep that in mind as we flow. The power of gentleness, this is like swimming. You don't want to over exert energy as you swim, you want to swim like you're in flow with the water. Approaching tasks intelligently, finding the balances between action and non-action. The golden path between anxiety and boredom that it's just at the perfect skill level for you to constantly be in flow. We look down on passivity but doing nothing sometimes makes more sense and this has actually been really critical most recently with this idea that does my consciousness actually transform the most in a social setting or even when I'm alone when I'm constantly feeding myself with stimuli when I'm alone or when I'm with people that were constantly talking to each other or is it potential that my consciousness transforms more if I turn off all of the stimulation when I'm alone and I just sit and I be? Maybe I have more profound realizations actually come up that both help me develop as a person and help my uni gifts come up through the world and when we're with other people instead of all talking maybe we pause everyone and we say hey guys can we just be together for a little bit and as you just be and no one talks but some people maybe have their eyes closed some have their eyes open kind of looking at each other feeling the energy feeling the dynamics between each other more beautiful things can arise in the evolution of your consciousness than if you were all talking life is like a river that already has a course we can swim upstream we can swim downstream we can try and hold a branch we can stand on a rock along the way you just follow the flow of the river the mind thinks it should control the environment to survive but we don't control our digestion we don't control our blood flow we don't control the healing of our wounds the future who we fall in love with who we find attractive how nature unfolds so we navigate through the river instead of trying to control it again navigate through the river instead of trying to control it animals plants and insects are all rolling with the flow you can see and feel the spirit inside of animals and insects and plants that they're all just in a state of spirit of existing of just being part of this flow of this unfolding and then the human creature is the one that goes oh my god the future oh my god and oh my god the past oh my god we create all of that but really this beautiful state of just being being on the Dow navigating the river of our own journey of bringing gifts to the world in life its qualities of water are softness the supreme good is like water which benefits all of creation without trying to compete with it so water brings so much good it brings humans plants animals insects it brings life nourishment that we need to survive but doesn't compete with it it just flows water has no purpose no goal no specific desires but it nourishes water does God's work without any ambition can you can I can we all do God's work without ambition maybe the balance of both knowing again that we have this ultimate gift that we want to bring but we're gonna let ourselves flow divinely to that gift when you're in flow you forget about the results you forget about anxiety you forget about the past you let it go and you stay in flow a plant like this beautiful tree that I planted with my mother 11 years ago it may seek out the sunlight but it does not chase after the sunlight so we seek out our north star and the gifts we don't chase after it we flow towards it sometimes the best way to fight is to not fight at all win by appearing to do nothing we've all been there some sort of a stressful situation that's boiling and what do we do we don't react we stay calm we observe and all of a sudden the situation diffuses itself we approach those situations with peace with equanimity with love and care and compassion water can flow or it can crash choose wisely and be like water my friend also remember that nature is the best teacher as I sit here I feel earth I feel the trees I feel the air I have insects on me this is life these are the lessons that we can learn by observing and experiencing creation God source we learn so much by just being with nature that is a massive part of the Dow is the evolution of all that is and being with that flow of watching and feeling and integrating with how nature evolves and being a part of that also Amor Fatih being in love with fate and so there's some sort of a bounce the strike between having this gift that we're bringing forth into the world being in love with fate with whatever it is and however it is that we bring this gift forth into the world but also knowing that we want to bring forth our unique gift so how do you balance something like sitting back with going forth it's a very beautiful thing how in love with you are with your history love of fate of your history of every time slice that you've lived from birth until now because the more you are in love with the fate the more you've integrated it into your essence and your being the more holistically you'll live the more holistically your present moment will be and your future will be have that Amor Fatih that love of fate too the Dow is a very interesting concept is the way it is the flow of the universe the flow of creation the flow of source that we're all experiencing together moment to moment and one of the ultimate questions of existence how do you flow with the Dow most optimally are we exactly where we're supposed to be right on the Dow is there something that we've lost from knowing how to behave more like a pinnacle civilization more in harmony with creation with nature with the source that we need to recover and embed again so beautiful questions study more about Dowism study more of the Dow to Qing study more about Lao Tzu the philosophy of flow Wu Wei non-action effortless action the action of non-action study these things and really tap more deeply into bringing your gifts into the world doing it with the flow doing it effortlessly it's a gorgeous thing have more conversation with your friends your families coworkers people online about the Dow about Taoism about bringing your gifts effortlessly into the world support the artists the entrepreneurs the spiritual leaders around the world that you believe in support them and help them grow support us our links are below simulation find the rest of our great interviews and videos with leaders from around the world trying to inspire you to build the future I host it my name is Alan Sokian and also bring your gifts forward manifest your dreams into the world everyone be with the flow be with the Dow I love you very much thank you for tuning in we'll see you soon peace