So, Anything Goes?

Trey Smith

One of the great misnomers of the philosophical Taoist framework is that it is devoid of morality or ethics. Many people view the notion of each person defining their own path as a license to engage in any type of activity or behavior. In a manner of speaking, they equate Taoism as a philosophy that mirrors Cole Porter's famous song, Anything Goes (see clip below).

So DOES anything go? For me, the answer is both yes and no.

Taoists look to nature as a sort of blueprint for the ways we humans should comport ourselves. In the natural world -- apart from humans -- actions are not undertaken to quench egoic desires. The rain doesn't fall to woo the sensuous ground. The wind doesn't howl as a way to avenge the haughtiness of a mischievous forest. One creature doesn't devour another because of a perceived personal affront. All these things occur because of the inherent processes of the life force.

We humans, on the other hand, say and do most things as a mechanism to serve egoic desires. When a man sexually victimizes a child it is not because his biological organism will cease to survive if he does not so prey on that child; he instead is satisfying a fantasy that springs from the deep recesses of his ego.

While our egos are part and parcel of this package we call a human being -- we can't simply toss them aside -- we can learn to temper the control our egos exert over our decision-making processes. Using the natural world as our guide, we can learn to move through our lives as selflessly as possible.

In other words, it is only when we have reached the point in which the ego is not in the driver's seat that anything goes. In this sense, anything both is restrained AND unfettered. It is restrained from serving the basest wants of our craven desires, yet it is unfettered because we can express our primal virtue in innumerable ways.

Last weekend I was watching a golf tournament on TV. The commentators were going on and on about how a particular golfer had developed an unorthodox swing. While he certainly didn't copy most of the techniques taught at Golf Schools, he nonetheless kept his body in balance throughout the mechanics of his swing.

In essence, this particular golfer illustrates the notion of anything goes. His peculiar swing represents his crafting of his own path (unfettered) and yet it incorporates the universal principle of maintaining balance (restrained).