Jed Talks #3 by Jed McKenna

Author:Jed McKenna [McKenna, Jed]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781734353419
Publisher: Wisefool Press Publishing
Published: 2019-12-05T16:00:00+00:00

That felt like a heavy answer to a light question, but I get a lot of not-so-good questions so I have to run with the pretty good ones. A few dozen people are sitting on logs, picnic benches, lawn chairs and coolers now. There’s a large rock-lined firepit already loaded with logs and brush and ready to be lit, but it’s a warm Texas afternoon so fire can wait.

“I’ve been reading a lot about Taoism lately,” says a very large guy in a black t-shirt with a shaved head, wraparound sunglasses and a long beard called Big Greg. He and I spoke earlier. He’s a veteran of multiple tours who’s seen a lot of action and lost a lot of friends. “They talk about water a lot.”

“The highest good resembles water,” I say, quoting the Tao Te Ching, I think.

“Yeah, how it seeks the path of least resistance, how it can take many forms and overcome obstacles, how the softest thing overcomes the hardest.”

I’d like to keep us from descending into tattoo parlor philosophy without being, as has been suggested on occasion, a total jag-off about it. Taoist teachings make for weak philosophy because Taoism is a state of being disguised as an ideology. You can study Taoist thought for the rest of your life and never learn the first thing about Taoism, or you can transition into adulthood and become a Taoist sage instantly because they’re just different ways of describing the same state. In theory, Taoism is about adulthood and nothing else. In practice, it’s a misguided attempt to convey adulthood to children instead of conveying children to adulthood. If Taoists understood Taoism, they would have been producing a constant stream of adults for the last few millennia, but they haven’t so they don’t. Like Zen and Advaita, Taoism is all show and no go. It’s just another spiritual goosechase resulting in little more than the ego-safe disposal of time and lifeforce.

“Water represents energy,” I tell Big Greg and those nearby, “so the comparison between yourself and water can open up your understanding of how your life really works, even in the juvenile state. The water thing is pretty simple. I describe it as pattern, flow and obstruction, and so on. Has your study of Taoism made any significant difference in your life; how you operate, how you understand the world?”

“I don’t know, maybe a little,” he says.

“I’ll take that as a no,” I say. “The change we’re looking for is about as subtle as an earthquake, but that’s not what we see because Taoism teaches children how to act like adults, not how to become adults. Transitioning from childhood to adulthood is not a game of dress-up or make-believe, it’s an actual death-rebirth process. As with all solutions offered by the spiritual marketplace, Taoism promises the rebirth part without the death part that must come first. That’s what keeps the spiritual marketplace in business. They promise you that you can get there from here, but you can’t. You have to go all the way back and start over.

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