TAOISM FINAL LECTURE

1)	Metaphysics: View of “Reality”
•	Yin/Yang cosmology
•	Interdependency thesis: all qualities (“things”) are what they are, only in relation to other qualities (“things”)
•	“What Is Not” becomes the central principle of Reality
•	The Dynamic Unity of Being entails What Is Not (the Primal source of all being) a as well as What Is (What is Not is both the Source and driving force or Power of Reality

2)	View of “Self” (A Branch of Metaphysics)
•	Relational: Interdependency thesis applies here too
•	Where does the Self come from?  Where does anything come from:?…

3)	Ethics: View of Living the “Good” Life
•	the Sage is the perfect embodiment of humanity
•	lives in perfect alignment with the Tao and thus, lives a life of integrity, balance and unity, “actionlessness” (wu wei), in communion with the Tao and in harmony with all things

4)	Epistemogy: View of “Knowledge”
•	Wisdom (a “Sagely” state of consciousness) is distinguished from the ordinary knowledge that we gain from perception and thought
•	A mystical state of being at one with Tao, a lived (spiritual) experience that allows one to penetrate into the very mystery of Being itself (and its secret essences)

5)	Philosophy and Religion
•	a philosophical understanding only requires a grasp of the principles (of 1-4 above); I am not here to convert anyone but only to educate about another world view
•	the religious commitment requires that one practices Taoism, and may still be distinguished from the spiritual appreciation of the principles themselves