Tao Bible - Genesis 6:5

And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
~ King James version ~

Nothing is completely yin or yang.
~ possible Taoist alternative ~

From the Christian standpoint, mankind inherently is evil and we only can be "saved" due to God's mercy. If left to our own devices, life would be brutish and the blood would flow endlessly.

The ancient Taoist sages did not hold to this view. They submitted that humankind is born of innocence -- which should not be confused with "good" -- and that this innocence is lost as we are socialized by society.

As infants, we take life as it comes. We see little difference between ourselves and the cosmos. We experience life through our innermost nature -- the internal compass.

Little by little, we are conditioned to turn our backs on our inner nature and to replace it instead with external definitions, descriptions and controls. The more we give up to societal whims, the more we estrange ourselves from the innocence of our birthrights.

If you're interesting reading more from this experimental series, go to the Tao Bible Index page.