How Tao?

People often ask how you become a Taoist, what books do you read, what temples do you attend? The sage replies that you don't become a Taoist, you just realize that Taoist is a name for what you already are.
~ Today's Daily Quote from Lao Fzu ~

When people ask me about Taoism -- it happens not infrequently in my small community -- I often fumble with just the right words. I start down one path, then in mid-sentence, I think better of it and dart a different direction. So, I think I will copy today's Daily Quote on a piece of paper and put it in my wallet!!

In one sense, Taoism is nothing more than a framework -- as are all philosophies and religions. It is a way to express that which we can never fully understand nor describe. Each belief framework has its own symbols, themes and phraseology. Most such systems feature written or oral texts that expound on the unexpoundable.

In another sense, today's Daily Quote is a two-sentence summary of much of what Scott Bradley writes about. We are who we are and what is is what is. All our posturing really is for naught.

When I came to the philosophy of Taoism over a decade ago, I discovered I had been a Taoist all my life -- I just didn't realize it. The themes of this ancient philosophy were the same themes that had guided my life. The formulations of Lao Tzu and Chuang Tzu were the ones that had been on my mind and in my dreams.

I am a philosophical Taoist, though I happily acknowledge that Tao is a made-up word. I think that is fitting since much of our lives are made-up too. ;-)