Taoist Philosophy and the Judeo-Christian Ethic

[AshvinP]

The following is from a previous draft of Beyond Order: 12 More Rules for Life.

The Taoist philosophy is predicated on the idea that experience itself consists of the eternal interplay of yang and yin, each of which can and does transform itself into the other. The former, “masculine,” is the order that restricts, constrains, tyrannizes and protects. The latter, “feminine,” is the chaos that undermines, threatens, revitalizes and renews. For the Taoists, this is eternal reality, always, everywhere. Wherever you are, there are things you know, things you can predict, things you can control. That is order. Wherever you are, there are things you do not understand, that exceed your domain of comprehension and articulation, that confuse and undermine you. That is chaos. Thus, experience is made of the known, and the unknown, explored and unexplored territory, the enlightened day and the dark underworld, wakefulness and unconsciousness.

For Christians, the road to salvation, the imitation of Christ, is most fundamentally the attempt to act as befits something made in the image of God: that is, the attempt to mediate between chaos and order in a manner that maintains the balance between both, and that allows creation to continue unfolding, in the best of possible manners. This is the attempt to establish the Kingdom of God on earth, to make Heaven bloom here and now, instead of the hell that could obtain. The deepest of experiential meanings is to be found in that attempt – in fact, meaning as a phenomenological and perhaps even a biological or neurological phenomenon appears precisely to be the experience that marks success in such an endeavor. Why would it not? If that is the proper place to be, and the most appropriate manner in which to act, why would we not be powerfully guided toward it by the most ancient and profound of our instincts? For the Taoists, similarly, the Tao—right being—for all intents and purposes, can be found at the juncture of chaos and order. This is the spiritual place where the water of life flows, parching the physical and spiritual thirst of desperate and suffering living beings.

[profoundnature]

Great quote, thanks for sharing. I've sometimes wondered what Taoist material Peterson studied since he occasionally refers to it. My only guess is that maybe his study of Jung lead him there since Jung had written a bit about it like in his commentary on Wilhelm's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower.

[AshvinP]

Great quote, thanks for sharing. I've sometimes wondered what Taoist material Peterson studied since he occasionally refers to it. My only guess is that maybe his study of Jung lead him there since Jung had written a bit about it like in his commentary on Wilhelm's translation of The Secret of the Golden Flower.

Jung's writings are definitely a big source for him. He has also taken a serious look into various 19th-20th century philosophical schools, such as existentialism, phenomenology, and pragmatism, and of course depth psychology. But pretty much every North American's understanding of Eastern philosophy has come through Jung in the 20th century.