Wu Wei, "do nothing" or "doing nothing," is to follow the course of nature. It is confidence in the universe...Wu Wei is wisdom...Wu Wei is habit...Wu Wei is modesty...Wu Wei is a delight in knowing that everything will be all right...Wu Wei is the secret of health.
Wu Bu Wei, "doing everything," is the creativity to build a good habit. We do not have to solve every basic question of life. We just follow the established good habit, as a mathematician follows established equations without having to prove it every time.
~ from Do Nothing and Do Everything: An Illustrated New Taoism, Chapter 1 ~
One could say that
wu wei is the ability to recognize the flow of life and
wu bu wei is the ability to flow with it. How might you explain it?
I know I have tried many times to put words around the concept of wei wu wei. Even thought it is difficult to put into words it is simple to recognise, so no matter the explanation and no matter how someone is introduced to the idea, they will certainly recognise it when it occurs.
ReplyDeleteThe best explanations may well be references to nature and contrasting those with times when man works against the current.
Wu wei is that which arises of itself.
ReplyDeleteTo me it feels like "doing everything effortlessly".
ReplyDeleteWu wei is not restricted to humans. Wu wei is about everything arising of itself: mountains, apple trees, frogs, paramecia, stars, galaxies, universes.
ReplyDeleteThe problem comes when humans try to force things, something non-humans never do. From managing governments, to growing a garden, wu wei respects self-arising.