TAOISM | Be Like Water

Summary

This video script delves into the Taoist philosophy of flexibility, using water as a metaphor for adaptability and resilience. It contrasts the rigidity of the mind with the fluidity of thought, emphasizing the importance of embracing change and impermanence. Drawing from Lao Tzu's 'Tao Te Ching,' the narrative advocates for a 'soft' approach to life, illustrating how yielding can overcome hardness. The script also references 'The Shawshank Redemption' to exemplify the power of patience and subtlety, ultimately arguing that being like water—flexible, yielding, and adaptable—can lead to strength and success.

Takeaways

• 💧 Water is celebrated for its softness and yielding nature, which paradoxically gives it the power to overcome hardness and rigidity.
• 🧠 Rigidity of thought can limit our perception and keep us stuck in fixed ideas, hindering our ability to adapt to change.
• 🌱 Embracing flexibility and fluidity in our approach to life can help us navigate the complexities and changes of the universe more effectively.
• 📚 Lao Tzu's 'Tao Te Ching' advocates for a life stance that is flexible, similar to water, as opposed to a rigid one.
• ☯️ Taoist philosophy, with its emphasis on the balance of yin and yang, teaches us to value both active and passive elements of existence.
• 🌿 Observing nature through a Taoist lens reveals the harmony between opposites and the principle of ongoing change.
• 🌊 Water's adaptability and resilience are demonstrated by its ability to take various forms and survive different circumstances.
• 🌱 The softness and flexibility of living beings, likened to water, contribute to their strength and ability to endure.
• 🔄 Accepting the reality of impermanence and learning to flow with life's changes can save energy and foster a tranquil mind.
• 🎬 The movie 'Shawshank Redemption' illustrates the power of softness and patience through the character of Andy Dufresne, who overcomes adversity with a gentle yet persistent approach.

Q & A

What does Lao Tzu compare the supreme good to in the Tao Te Ching?

Lao Tzu compares the supreme good to water in the Tao Te Ching.

How does the script describe the nature of water?

The script describes water as soft, yielding, flexible, and capable of overcoming the hard and rigid.

What is the main difference between the yin and yang aspects of life?

The script describes yang as active, fast, productive, and hard, while yin is passive, receptive, soft, and flexible.

Why is rigidity of the mind considered a limitation according to the script?

Rigidity of the mind limits our perception and makes us stuck in our ideas of how things are or should be, which does not align with the ever-changing nature of the universe.

What is the Taoist perspective on weakness and yielding?

Taoism views weakness or the willingness to yield as a strength because it allows for flexibility and adaptation to change.

How does the script relate the concept of water to the idea of flexibility in life?

The script suggests that being like water, which is adaptable and flexible, is a more fruitful approach to life, enabling us to flow along with the changes.

What does the script suggest about the cultural celebration of yang aspects of life?

The script suggests that our culture celebrates yang aspects such as speed, productivity, and confrontation, often overlooking the value of yin aspects like receptivity and flexibility.

How does the script explain the resilience of water?

The script explains that water is resilient because it can take various forms and adapt to different circumstances, such as changing from liquid to solid or gas depending on temperature.

What is the significance of the quote from Alexander Hamilton mentioned in the script?

The quote from Alexander Hamilton is used to illustrate the cultural preference for rigidity and standing one's ground, which the script contrasts with the Taoist philosophy of flexibility.

How does the script use the movie 'Shawshank Redemption' to illustrate the power of softness?

The script uses the character Andy Dufresne from 'Shawshank Redemption' to demonstrate how soft and stealthy methods, like patience and intelligence, can lead to significant long-term change.

What is the message behind the story of the crooked tree in Zhuangzi mentioned in the script?

The story of the crooked tree in Zhuangzi illustrates that what is seen as useless or undesirable can have positive aspects, such as longevity and providing a place of rest, and that flexibility in perception can lead to finding value in what is often overlooked.

What does the script suggest is the key to overcoming the hard by being soft?

The script suggests that the key to overcoming the hard by being soft is to practice Taoist philosophy of 'not forcing' anything, to adapt to circumstances, and to use force only when necessary and at the right opportunity.

Outlines

00:00

💧 Embracing Flexibility: The Wisdom of Water

This paragraph introduces the concept of flexibility through the metaphor of water, as described by Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching. Water is portrayed as the epitome of softness and adaptability, capable of overcoming rigidity. The text contrasts the rigidity of the human mind with the fluidity of water, suggesting that our inflexible thinking limits our perception and ability to adapt to change. It emphasizes the importance of a flexible approach to life, akin to water's ability to flow and change shape, which is a reflection of Taoist philosophy. The paragraph also discusses the cultural bias towards yang (active, forceful) qualities over yin (passive, receptive) qualities, and how this bias can hinder our ability to adapt and grow. The narrative uses the natural properties of water to illustrate the strength found in yielding and the importance of embracing change.

05:01

🌊 Adapting to Life's Currents

The second paragraph extends the metaphor of water to life's changes, both minor and major. It likens the twists and turns of a river to the small changes we experience, with drastic changes in course symbolizing significant life events. The river's journey to the ocean represents death, emphasizing the importance of flowing with life's changes without resistance. The paragraph draws on Lao Tzu's teachings that softness overcomes hardness, using water's ability to erode rock as an example. It suggests that a non-forceful approach, or 'not forcing,' is often more effective in the long run, conserving energy and maintaining peace. The narrative references the movie 'Shawshank Redemption' to illustrate how patience and subtlety can lead to significant outcomes over time, even in the face of oppressive circumstances.

10:02

🌱 Finding Strength in Softness

The final paragraph explores the benefits of perceiving challenges positively, drawing on Taoist principles that value the overlooked aspects of life. It discusses how societal values often overlook the positive aspects of undesirable traits, such as poverty or unattractiveness, suggesting that these can lead to less stress and a more authentic life. The story from Zhuangzi about a 'useless' tree that becomes a place of rest and eventually a holy site illustrates how perceived shortcomings can become strengths. The paragraph reinforces the idea that softness and flexibility are forms of strength, as they allow for adaptation and survival, even in the face of adversity. It concludes with a quote from a famous actor, philosopher, and martial artist, encouraging viewers to be like water—adaptable and ever-changing.

Keywords

💡Flexibility

Flexibility in the context of the video refers to the ability to adapt and change in response to different circumstances. It is a core theme that is likened to the properties of water, which can take on various forms and flow around obstacles. The video emphasizes that flexibility is a strength that allows individuals to navigate life's changes more effectively. For instance, the script mentions that 'a more fruitful approach to life would be one that is flexible, tangible, that enables us to flow along.'

💡Rigidity

Rigidity is presented as the opposite of flexibility and is characterized by an inability to adapt or change. The video suggests that rigid thinking can limit one's perspective and hinder personal growth. It is associated with fixed ideas and resistance to change, which can lead to difficulties in coping with life's inevitable transformations. An example from the script is the statement 'Many people are hijacked by the rigidity of their minds.'

💡Tao Te Ching

The Tao Te Ching is an ancient Chinese text attributed to Lao Tzu, which is central to Taoist philosophy. In the video, it is mentioned as a source of wisdom that celebrates flexibility and the natural order of the universe. The script references Lao Tzu's work to support the idea that 'the supreme good is like water,' highlighting the text's influence on the concept of yielding as a form of strength.

💡Yin and Yang

Yin and Yang are fundamental Taoist concepts representing the dualistic nature of the universe, where opposites coexist and interrelate. The video uses these concepts to illustrate the balance between active (Yang) and passive (Yin) forces. It points out that modern culture often favors Yang aspects, such as aggression and productivity, while overlooking the value of Yin qualities like receptivity and flexibility. The script states, 'When we observe nature closely and through a Taoist lens, we can see two forces at work: yin and yang.'

💡Impermanence

Impermanence is the concept that all things in life are transient and subject to change. The video uses this concept to argue for acceptance of change as a natural part of life. It suggests that resisting impermanence is futile and can lead to unnecessary suffering. The script mentions, 'Life is impermanence. If life would be permanent, it would be lifeless.'

💡Adaptation

Adaptation, as discussed in the video, is the process of adjusting to new conditions or environments. It is portrayed as a survival mechanism that enables resilience in the face of change. The video likens adaptation to the behavior of water, which can take on different forms and survive various conditions. An example given is 'water is able to take all kinds of different forms,' demonstrating its adaptive nature.

💡Resilience

Resilience is the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties or to withstand adverse conditions. The video connects resilience with the softness and flexibility of water, suggesting that these qualities enable living beings to better withstand external pressures. The script quotes Lao Tzu: 'The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff,' to illustrate the correlation between resilience and flexibility.

💡Yield

To yield in the video is to give way or submit under pressure, which is presented as a positive quality rather than a weakness. It is associated with the Taoist concept of flexibility and is seen as a form of strength that allows for change and growth. The video contrasts the willingness to yield with rigidity, suggesting that yielding can lead to more effective outcomes. An example is the assertion that 'the ability and willingness, to yield, can actually be a great strength, according to Taoist philosophy.'

💡Nature

Nature, as discussed in the video, is a model for understanding the principles of the universe, particularly the concept of change and the interplay of opposites. The video advocates for deference towards nature and learning from its ways, such as the dance between yin and yang. It suggests that observing nature can provide insights into how to live in harmony with the world. The script states, 'One thing that characterizes Taoist philosophy is deference towards nature.'

💡The Shawshank Redemption

The Shawshank Redemption is a film referenced in the video to illustrate the power of softness and patience. The protagonist, Andy Dufresne, is shown using non-confrontational methods to achieve his goals over a long period, eventually leading to a significant change. The video uses this example to demonstrate that sometimes, a gentle and persistent approach can be more effective than forceful actions. The script describes Andy's escape as a culmination of '19 years of softness' that he used to create the right opportunity.

💡Zhuangzi

Zhuangzi is a Taoist text that includes a story about a crooked tree, which is used in the video to illustrate the concept of finding value in what is perceived as useless. The story suggests that characteristics or situations deemed undesirable can have positive aspects when viewed from a different perspective. The video uses this narrative to encourage a flexible mindset that can find opportunity in adversity, aligning with the theme of embracing change and impermanence. The script recounts the story, highlighting 'the tree is actually very suitable as a place, to relax.'

Highlights

Water is celebrated for its yielding nature, yet it is capable of overcoming the hard and rigid.

Rigidity of mind can limit perception and trap us in fixed ideas.

A flexible approach to life allows us to flow with the ever-changing universe.

Lao Tzu in 'Tao Te Ching' praises flexibility as a strength, likening it to water.

Taoist philosophy suggests that weakness or the willingness to yield can be a strength.

Yin and Yang represent the passive and active forces in nature, with Yin being undervalued in modern culture.

Rigidity is compared to a dead branch, unable to adapt to life's changes.

Water's adaptability and resilience are demonstrated through its various forms and behaviors.

Lao Tzu's quote emphasizes the strength of softness and flexibility in life.

Rigid minds struggle with change, desiring permanence over the reality of impermanence.

Life's changes, both small and large, are compared to a river's course, requiring adaptation.

The soft approach in Taoism is about 'not forcing' and can lead to better long-term results.

The movie 'Shawshank Redemption' illustrates the power of softness and patience.

Being like water means adapting to circumstances and finding positivity in every situation.

In Taoism, even 'useless' things have positive aspects, as illustrated by the story of the crooked tree in 'Zhuangzi'.

Water's softness and yielding nature are strengths that allow it to overcome the hardest substances.

Adapting and building one's own path, like water, is a philosophical approach to life.

Transcripts

Water is the softest and most yielding substance.

Yet nothing is better than water, for overcoming the hard and rigid, because nothing can compete with it.

Lao Tzu

Many people are hijacked by the rigidity of their minds.

Thinking in categories and fixed ideas can be a great crutch for survival, as it creates

clarity in a chaotic universe.

But thinking too rigidly also has its negative consequences.

Seeing the world in categories and separate boxes limits our perception, so we become

stuck in our ideas of how things are, or supposed to be.

As the universe is ever-changing, and most things, if not everything, is more complex

than our minds can comprehend, a more fruitful approach to life, would be one that is flexible,

tangible, that enables us to flow along.

You know... a bit like water.

The ancient Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu celebrates flexibility in his timeless work named the

Tao Te Ching, in which he opposes the rigid life stance that some people choose to take.

In contrast to what many think, weakness, or more specifically, the ability and willingness

to yield, can actually be a great strength, according to Taoist philosophy.

Hence, Lao Tzu states that the supreme good is like water.

This video explores the benefits of being a bit less rigid and a bit more like water.

One thing that characterizes Taoist philosophy is deference towards nature.

The ways of nature are all-encompassing.

The dance between opposites is the fundamental principle of how the universe works, which

manifests as ongoing change.

When we observe nature closely and through a Taoist lens, we can see two forces at work:

yin and yang, or the feminine and the masculine.

Yang consists of the more active elements of existence, like speed, restlessness, productivity,

excitement, aggressiveness, being outgoing, but also hardness, dryness, and stiffness.

Yin consists of the more passive elements, like silence, receptiveness, not reacting

as opposed to reacting, and also softness, and flexibility.

Our culture celebrates the yang aspects of life.

It’s all about faster, bigger, more, better, standing your ground, defending your unchanging

opinions, confronting and clashing with the enemy, altering rather than adapting.

Yin aspects, on the other hand, are looked down upon.

For example: being receptive to opposing opinions, and being willing to change your views is

often seen as weak.

“If you stand for nothing, you’ll fall for anything,” former American politician

Alexander Hamilton famously quoted, which may be true, but if we’re not willing to

maintain certain flexibility, never change our viewpoints on anything, never change our

approach, and are never willing to bend with the winds of life, we become as rigid as a

dead branch.

When we observe the nature of water, we’ll discover that it’s extremely resilient to

change, as water is able to take all kinds of different forms.

We can pour water in a glass and it becomes the glass when it’s part of the ocean it waves.

Depending on the outside temperature water changes its behavior; when it’s cooked it

evaporates, and when it’s frozen it becomes solid.

Thus, water survives many different circumstances by adaptation.

The softness of water adds strength to living beings, because it makes them flexible, and,

therefore, more resilient to outside circumstances.

As Lao Tzu stated:

The living are soft and yielding; the dead are rigid and stiff.

Living plants are flexible and tender; the dead are brittle and dry.

End quote.

Things that are brittle and dry will break easily, and are either dead or equivalent

to being dead.

The same goes for minds that are rigid and stern.

People that are rigid and stern generally have difficulties dealing with change, as

they desire permanence, rather than the uncertainty of impermanence.

Unfortunately for these people, change is inevitable.

Life is impermanence.

If life would be permanent, it would be lifeless.

Thus, when we don’t accept the reality of impermanence, we waste a lot of energy fighting

the inevitable.

Change in life comes in different forms; we could experience small changes.

For example: a new colleague.

Or we could experience big changes like moving to another country, divorce, or even death.

Now, if we’d compare life to a river, we could see its subtle twists and turns as small

changes, a drastic change in course would represent a big change, and when it discharges

in the ocean it would be death.

We see that, no matter what happens, the river flows along with the changes of circumstances,

adapting to different landscapes, and finding its way past obstructions without effort.

Even its inevitable annihilation the river approaches without being troubled, without

resistance, as it simply merges into something else.

And, thus, we live life in a continuous flow, finding our ways around everything that crosses

our path, not resisting even the most drastic of changes, including death.

But also, when we’d be contained, like water being kept in a jar, we’d just be still

and be the jar, until our circumstances change.

Lao Tzu argues in the Tao Te Ching that the soft overcomes the hard.

He takes water as a metaphor for this assertion; water is soft and flexible, but also has the

power to erode the hardest materials like rock and metal.

I quote:

Everyone knows that the soft and yielding overcomes the rigid and hard, but few can

put this knowledge into practice.

End quote.

So, to be like water, we need to know how we can overcome the hard by being soft.

First of all, Taoism is a philosophy about ‘not forcing’ anything.

In practice, we can see that using force is not only exhausting, it often doesn’t get

us anywhere.

Now, this doesn’t mean that we should never use force in certain situations.

But in many cases, the soft approach is superior to using force, when it comes to long term

results, as well as saving our energy, and maintaining a tranquil mind.

This mechanism is best explained through examples.

A great example of the power of softness we can find in the movie Shawshank Redemption,

in which the protagonist Andy Dufresne is sentenced to life in Shawshank State Penitentiary

for murdering his wife and and her lover, even though he keeps saying that he didn’t

do it.

After 19 years of imprisonment, he escapes and flees to Mexico.

Andy uses soft and stealthy methods to reach his goals.

Probably because of his background as a banker, he’s able to think long term, and knows

that small actions in the present will eventually lead to big changes in the future.

He also loved geology, which is, as the film puts it, “a study of pressure and time.”

By being friendly and helpful and using his intelligence, he’s able to become a trustee

of the corrupt and heartless prison warden Samuel Norton, and enjoys several privileges.

By sending a letter to the state’s senate every week for six years, he’s able to get

funding for a prison library.

Eventually, Andy escapes through a tunnel that he dug using a small hammer which he

hid in a bible.

It takes him 19 years to dig that tunnel; a project that he hides behind a poster of

a pin-up girl.

With his soft and patient approach, he did not only conquer a thick, concrete wall, but

also the prison’s authority.

His escape, however, is explosive.

He rushes into the tunnel, gets on the other side, breaks a sewer pipe, crawls through

500 yards of excrement, cashes in, exposes the warden to the media, and flees to Mexico.

Thus, he doesn’t abstain from using force completely; he just saves it for the right

opportunity, that took him 19 years of softness to create.

To be like water means that we’re able to adapt to different circumstances.

Every situation has something positive to it.

In still water, the dust can settle so it becomes clear.

Streaming water passes different places and sceneries, and nurtures the things that it

encounters.

In the yang-society we live in, we only seem to value one part of human existence, which

is the active part that revolves around achievement, speed, and success.

We get educated, take on a lot of responsibility in regards to work and family, try to get

rich and do it as quickly as possible, and judge each other as ‘human doings’, rather

than human beings.

Being useless, or stupid, or ugly, or poor, is generally considered undesirable.

But if we master the flexibility of finding the positive in the negative, we’ll realize

that these undesired characteristics have positive aspects to them.

It’s just a matter of perception.

For example: being poor means less money and possessions to worry about, and being ugly

means that we’re less likely to end up in a string of abusive relationships, and that

people like us for our personality instead of looks.

In the Taoist work Zhuangzi, there’s a story about a crooked tree, which was so deformed

compared to the straight trees, that lumberjacks labeled it useless, as it was unable to turn

into usable wooden planks.

Then, Zhuangzi came along, and stated that the tree is actually very suitable as a place

to relax.

Because the tree was seen as useless by the lumberjacks, it never got chopped down, so

it became old and big, and people eventually turned it into a holy site.

So, the longevity of the tree was due to its uselessness.

Being useless may not lead to a good reputation, and will probably evoke shaming and blaming

by our environment.

But it also leads to less burdens, less pressure, and probably a much more relaxed life.

Every cloud has a silver lining.

Moreover, water always seeks the lower places, and makes the best out of circumstances that

no one wants to be in.

Life is characterized by softness, and softness is strength.

Soft things don’t break easily, because they can bend and yield, unlike the brittle

and rigid.

Even the hardest of rock can be overcome by the gentleness of water, and even the blowing

of the wind.

Hence, a famous actor, philosopher, and martial artist once said: “Don’t get set into

one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water.”

Thank you for watching.