148 - Not Proprietary

The true Tao is of no nationality, no religion. It is far beyond the conceptions of even the most brilliant human being, so it cannot be the property of one race or culture. The need to understand Tao is universal; people just give it different names in their native languages.

~ from 365 Tao: Daily Meditations, Entry 148~

One reason that philosophical Taoism is not grasped by more people in the west is based on ethnocentrism; it comes from the east. Most westerners know little about Chinese history and culture, so they mistakenly believe that Taoist thought must be foreign to their sensibilities and, like it or not, too many people either fear or are suspicious of ideas they perceive as strange and different.

What I find remarkable is that the foundations of Taoism can be found in belief systems the world over. While it coalesced into one particular philosophy in China, many aspects of it can be found in the spiritual beliefs of American Indians, Gnostic Christians, a wide variety of metaphysical disciplines and even in mainline Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Hinduism.

While the imagery and phraseology may be different than what many in the west are used to, quite a number of the basic themes are not. This is precisely why blogs like this one exist: to show Americans and our western counterparts that Taoism fits into our society and civilization far more than most realize.