Tao....

People keep asking me what the tattoo on my wrist means, and when I say Tao, they look a little baffled. Unfortunately, the most common place to be asked is in the pub, hence the answer usually doesn't make much sense. Hopefully this will make a little more

As long as I can remember I have had a core series of beliefs, morals and ethics that haven't changed much until now. I was raised a Christian, went to Church every Sunday in my youth, went to a Church of England school, the whole 9 yards, and a lot of it made sense, while other bits were completely contradictory. I realised when I was quite young that I had no faith - then in an assembly at school I learned that unfortunately the Bible teaches that no matter how good your life is, without faith you "cannot gain entry to heaven". It seemed that the Bible was telling us that we had to think the right thoughts rather than do the right deeds, and have relentless faith in Jesus as the son of God. From the age of 16 I never went to Church again, except for weddings and funerals.

From then until relatively recently, I have stuggled with my morals and reasons for my behaviour and attitude to life. I've always had an interest in philiosophy and religion, am aware of Buddhism, Hare Krishnaism, Hinduism, and am even fascinated with some "dead" faiths such as that of the Norsemen. Probably the closest tie I had was with that of Paganism, although the "mystic" rites and worship of Gods doesn't hold true to my perception of life. I wasn't prepared to adapt what I believed to match that of a faith - I suppose I was looking for a faith with a basis in what I believed. A philosophy that I was aware of but hadn't really looked in any great depth at was Taoism. I'd read the Tao Te Ching, but that was about the extent of my reading, and the talk of the "Heavens and the Earth" had been a little offputting, as was a lot of the other language within it. I found a different translation to the one I had originally read out there which was, I suppose, slightly more paletable. Intrigued by it I read it twice more, bought a copy, and started looking for other texts. The next book I stumbled across was Back to Beginnings by Huanchu Daoren. It's a short book of proverbs, but I suppose you might call it one of those life changing texts. It is I suppose a guide for life, but it just told me what I already knew. Quite often in life it's easy to react to a situation in a certain way even when you know that way is wrong. Back to Beginnings strips back the layers of learned negative behaviour and reminds you to behave with a core simplicity, love and non-judgement. Situations that would previously have thrown me into real anger I can now react to with empathy and understanding - I always knew the right way to react to these situations, but emotion often gets in the way.

Observe people with cool eyes, listen to their words with cool ears. Confront feelings with cool emotions, reflect on principles with a cool mind.

When Taoism was started and how it was formed is irrelevant here. If you're reading this and interested, checkout a wiki. There are many forms of philosophical and religious Taoism, and in many cases it is only relevant to the individual. Tao is a path, a way of thinking, a way of considering your actions and harmonization of yourself and the universe around you. By being aware, controlling your mood, emotions and thoughts you can have a positive effect on those around you. I suppose if you look at Tao in conjunction with an idea like Chaos Theory, you then get an amazing concept which makes you feel incredibly small, although every action you take has an impact on every living thing. Life is a bit like walking through a field of living things and trying not to stand on or hurt any of them....to start with it takes a lot of effort to walk so carefully, but as you go on, you get used to it.....