Dr Rosemarie Anderson – The Tao of the Tao Te Ching Invites Us to Act

The great message of the Tao Te Ching is the ordinariness of peace and wellbeing that arises from spontaneous action that seeks no gain for the self. This is to enact the path of ‘wei wu wei’, meaning to act without acting or do without doing. ‘Wei wu wei’ does not mean doing nothing, not thinking, not initiating projects, not cooking dinner, not planting a garden in the spring, and so on. To the contrary, for in leaving self-gain aside, our actions will arise naturally and spontaneously to meet concrete situations and events without plotting or manoeuvring in advance or expecting to be liked, appreciated, or rewarded for what we do. Aligning with the Tao is to seek what is lowest and most needy, like a mother might act naturally and spontaneously on behalf of a child in danger.

In so doing, we attend to what matters most—not tomorrow but right now. Depending on the situation, our actions may be swift or slow, but they will in time resolve obstacles at their source in the same way that water carves out canyons and moves mountains. What matters most will vary for each of us. This is ‘wei wu wei’ in action. Over time, enacting this feminine path to peace and wellbeing will impact all our relations with others, including animals and other species, each other, our families and communities, the conduct of governments, relationships between nations and peoples, and with planet Earth.

The wisdom of the Divine Feminine Tao may be applied to our personal initiatives and our response to personal and modern crises, including meeting the challenges of Covid and climate change. ‘Wei wu wei’ invites us to act spontaneously and naturally like water, determining its own course and leaving self-gain aside.

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About the speaker:

Rosemarie Anderson, PhD is an author, Professor Emerita of Psychology at Sofia University USA, Episcopal priest, and recipient of the Abraham Maslow Heritage Award from the Society for Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Since the late 1990s, she has co-authored several books exploring transformative approaches to research with the late William Braud and other qualitative researchers. Her recent translation of the Tao Te Ching, entitled The Divine Feminine Tao Te Ching: A New Translation & Commentary, was published by Inner Traditions in April 2021. She lives in southern Oregon surrounded by wilderness and wildlife.

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