Go with the flow the Taoist said

When asked how we should live our lives, a Taoist tells us to “go with the flow”.

The goal of “going with the flow” is part and parcel with the Taoist ideal of skilled unawareness, that state of being where a person spontaneously reacts to a situation in the best way possible.

That does not mean, as is commonly misunderstood, that a person acts laissez-faire, just letting the flow of the universe tumble them about. Instead, it’s like swimming in the ocean, going with the current but still directing yourself toward your destination.

I’ve found it best described in Derek Lin’s essay The Waterfall from taoism.net, which describes the story of an old sage surviving a powerful waterfall, by following the nature of the water:

“Well… I don’t really think about it very much. If I had to describe it, I would say that when the powerful torrents twist around me, I turn with them. If a strong current drives me down, I dive alongside it. As I do so, I am fully aware that when we get to the riverbed, the current will reverse course and provide a strong lift upward. When this occurs, I am already anticipating it, so I rise together with it.”

According to Taoists, from observation of the universe, we work toward such a state where we react to the world in an optimal way, without really thinking about it.

For many however, we’ve hit head on into an oft heard complaint of Eastern philosophy: this stereotype of a venerated master giving a mystic solution toward living without any explanation on how to actually do it.

We’ve all read a story or seen a movie with dialog such as this:

Protagonist: [Antagonist] is too powerful, how can I defeat him?

Master: To defeat your adversary, you must become one with the universe.

Protagonist: And how in the hell do I do that?

Such encoded wisdom can be missed regardless of the source, it happens in all societies, both East and West. The trick, it seems, is decoding such wisdom into something practical, the essential existential dilemma.

Existentialists are more interested in behavior than structure, not why the cosmos is so, but how does that why affect how a person should live.

When asked how we should behave, a Taoist answers: “Go with the flow”. The Existentialist then asks: “Well how exactly do I do that?”

For practical answers, I recommend reading 12 Practical Steps for Learning to Go With the Flow from Zen Habits, which addresses our very dilemma.

One suggestion, I find, also aligns well with the Bushido notion of becoming ever more skillful:

5. Practice. It’s important to realize that, just like when you learn any skill, you probably won’t be good at this at first. Who is good when they are first learning to write, or read, or drive? No one I know. Skills come with practice. So when you first learn to go with the flow, you will mess up. You will stumble and fall. That’s OK - it’s part of the process. Just keep practicing, and you’ll get the hang of it.