Religion Studies: Tao Unto Others
In the U.S.A., where the majority of people identify as Christians, there has always been a steady interest towards eastern philosophies and religions. For the most part, this stems from a desire to learn something new and immerse into a completely different, exotic worldview. But while quoting a two thousand six hundred years old maxim from Laozi – the founder of Daoism – may elevate a person in the eyes of his peers as a pundit who has dipped into a distant well of wisdom, a closer inspection of this philosophy makes one come to a stunning conclusion. The conclusion is this: if you have read the Gospels, studying “Tao Te Ching” will remind you of the teachings of Jesus again and again. While the language, the circumstances, the origins of Laozi and Jesus were different; while one spoke of “The Way” and the other of “Yahweh”, the core message of tolerance, pacifism and humility was the same in both philosophies.
While the notion may be surprising for many, Laozi and Jesus have a common tint to their teaching, which has a quality to it is that is both paradoxical and rare among other great thinkers and philosophers. They both questioned the nature of the world – as many do – and the conclusion they came to was best explained in self-contradictory statements. Christians are familiar with the following statement of Jesus: “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.” (New International Version, Matt. 10.39). In another case, Jesus declares that “the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matt. 20.16). He chose to use these expressions to make people realize that things people put value into may not be truly valuable to them on a deeper level. In other words, he demonstrated that there is a great divide between the reality and man-made concepts that we use to describe it. This sentiment echoed that of Laozi, who came to the same conclusion 600 years before Jesus: “The Way that can be followed is not the Eternal Way, the Name that can be Named is not the Eternal Name” (Dao De Jing, 1). Laozi expresses an extraordinarily profound idea that questions the validity of our basic understanding, and warns people against conflating concepts with that which they are supposed to describe, ultimately over-relying on them and forgetting the authentic, real things behind the words. In that, he seems to share the philosophy of Jesus that transcended the perception of the world.
A further closeness in teachings of Laozi and Jesus is contained in their understanding of God or divinity. On the surface of it, such a statement may seem absurd. Laozi never spoke of gods or spirits, all he was trying to convey was the mysterious, eternal way! And didn’t Jesus speak about God, to whom he was also allegedly related? These arguments seem valid, but they fall apart the moment one chooses …
