Follows only the Tao
The Tao, as a thing
Seems indistinct, seems unclear
So unclear, so indistinct
Within it there is image
So indistinct, so unclear
Within it there is substance
So deep, so profound
Within it there is essence
Its essence is supremely real
Within it there is faith
From ancient times to the present
Its name never departs
To observe the source of all things
How do I know the nature of the source?
With this
What does this mean?
Let us assume that we do want to have great virtue. We would need to follow the Tao to obtain this. The problem arises when the Tao is a paradox and a mystery. It is like trying to follow a quiet sparrow through a dense fog. The only clue you have is the slight flutter of wings. a branch that is still quivering from the bird taking off or if you are lucky, a feather left behind to know you are on the right path. The evidence is slight and coincidental.
To follow the Tao, you can test that the Tao is there. Faith is counter to the idea of the Tao as a philosophical concept. However, you need faith to follow something you have no language to even define or comprehend as a human being. That does not mean the Tao fails as something to help you.
Faith is necessary to have any sort of sanity. To have true certainty with no faith, one would have to go to the source and experience it for ourselves. With absolutely zero faith, you could say that China does not exist. All of those items that say "Made in China" and the books and movies that take place there could be a giant ruse for some unknowable purpose. This idea is pretty ridiculous but it points out the subjectivity with faith.
Faith is not some powerful spiritual force that dictates whether a diety loves you or not. Hoping that everything is going to be alright does not mean that having hope is the reason why it is going to be alright. Magical thinking through faith fuels justifications to keep doing what a culture or your own belief thinks you should.
Faith is simply how much you trust evidence presented to you for a specific claim.
We can see how great virtue impacts life. That virtue follows the Tao. We can see how opposites occur when one is motivated by ego and desire. Knowing opposites follows the Tao. We can see the problems of complicating our lives through intelligence and culture. We know that these human constructs are counter to the Tao.
Do you have faith that the Tao exists because of this evidence and in spite of the Tao's muddled indescribable nature?
No? That is OK. Unlike faith in China existing, the Tao is everywhere so it is easy to verify.
How do I use this?
Action trumps faith. Forgetting about virtue and the Tao, the most successful people are the ones who act to be at the right place at the right time and are motivated to do so. It is not luck, faith or hope. They have a destination and they know the map to it. They adapt when they risk something happening and it doesn't. In other words, they are not governed by confirmation bias.
The fallicy of confirmation bias is solely based on the human sense to make sense of the world: If I do A and B happens, it is because of C. Even if reason C is completely a coincidence.
* Since I flipped a coin 5 times and it was heads each time, it will probably be heads next time.
* Since I was carrying a rabbit's foot and I found $100, the rabbit's foot is lucky.
* Since it's cold outside, global warming must be a lie.
Those people who act outside of confirmation bias but a good understanding of how reality works are a step ahead. Those people drop their expectations of the coin's power to come up heads again. The sage does not carry a rabbit's foot, but they open their eyes instead. There is wisdom to study weather deeply if you wonder why people are worried about climate change.
The sage takes in and respects the hypothesis of others, but always tests against reality.
Get rid of magical thinking. The most difficult human obstacle is prayer and hope.
It is easy for the indoctrinated to say, "Since I have found faith in a spiritual force, everything has gone my way and I've gotten everything I've wanted. The spirit and faith must be the power where it comes from."
It is easy to construct that it's not the motivation you looked to when you were in trouble that made your life better, but the spirit or diety you put your faith into. If you stop getting what you want, it was not your fault, it was either the spirit did not want you to have it or you did not have enough faith. When you get mired in this, you are not in control anymore. You are a dust mote on the fractal winds of chance.
The Tao does not care about what you want or your desires. The Tao does not acknowledge your idea of how the world should work. The Tao merely is.
The amazing thing about it is by trying to make sense and follow the Tao, we naturally come across the virtues and thinking skills we need to cope and appreciate all of reality from which the Tao comes from. The Tao does not give us a good life by following it, but it simplifies our realities and tempers our desire. That is what makes our life better. We can use the concepts to achieve goals in line with following the great virtues that follow the Tao.
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