The Living Universe - Duane Elgin [31]
The goal of Taoism is to live in harmony with the flow of existence. Life is forever moving, never still, always becoming, so the wise person learns to watch carefully and ride the ever-cresting wave of life’s flow. Taoists see the universe as a vast ocean of interacting energy. Since they believe that chi, or life energy, is abundant throughout, great importance is placed on cultivating harmony in our energetic connection with the universe. By bringing an awareness of life energy into our direct experience, we see ourselves as participants in a vast dance of becoming, where everything participates with everything else. In experiencing ourselves within the flowing river of life, we can sense when we are pushing against the current or riding with the flow.
The second great religion of China is Confucianism. Its primary concern is the establishment of harmony between the energies of heaven and Earth. This religion was founded by Confucius, a sage and social philosopher who was deeply concerned about the troubling times in which he lived. Although his ideas gained little acceptance during his lifetime (551—479 B.C.E.), his teachings have deeply influenced Eastern Asia for twenty centuries.
Confucianism perceives life as a seamless and continual interaction between three realms: “Heaven” (a life force), “Earth” (the natural world), and “Humanity” (the socially constructed world). Confucian social ethics were intended to bring a harmonious interplay between humans, the natural world, and the forces of heaven through the binding force of the life energy or chi. This energy is the unifying, vibrant, and ceaseless vitality that underlies our physical reality. Ch’i is the life force of heaven that gives birth to the universe and nourishes it in a profoundly unified, interpenetrating, ceaselessly active cosmic process.
While Taoism and Confucianism are quite distinct in their specific teachings, they share a perspective of the universe that might be described as organic, vitalistic, and holistic.32 They both see the universe as a unified whole, permeated with life and involved in a continuous process of transformation.
Indigenous Views
The indigenous or tribal peoples of the world represent roughly 6 percent of the world’s population. “Native” or “indigenous” or “first people” societies are found throughout the world, and historically they have relied on subsistence farming as well as hunting and gathering. Without a written language, native peoples have preserved their rich knowledge of the world in stories, rituals, songs, and legends. Many people living in cultures with a written language tend to view the oral traditions of indigenous peoples as more primitive and less articulate. However, this is an erroneous perspective, as native cultures often possess an extensive and sophisticated language with a subtle and complex worldview.
Indigenous traditions observe an invisible presence throughout the world—an animating force permeating the universe and connecting all things into a living whole. According to Navajo tradition, a “sacred wind” blows through the universe and brings the capacity for awareness and communication with others. Our individual consciousness is simply a local part of this larger, animating wind or life force that moves through all of nature.
For the Lakota, who inhabited the upper midwest of the United States, “religion” is a direct experience of an all-pervading aliveness throughout the world. Luther Standing Bear, a Lakota