Three Pillars of Taoism
Taoism refers to either a school of philosophical thought or to a religion, both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the Tao or ‘Way’. The Tao is generally defined as the source of everything and the ultimate principle underlying reality.
Alchemy
Folks today oftentimes think the alchemists of old literally changed lead into gold. However, the alchemists were working on a metaphorical level, and changing lead-heavy consciousness into golden light. The world alchemy, from the Aramaic, means “working within and through the dense darkness inside.” Thus, the truth of what alchemists were actually doing.
How to Heal Toxic Thoughts
Sandra Ingerman
Acceptance & Forgiveness
Bring to mind a person you feel angry or annoyed at, and ask yourself what exactly it is that you dislike in him or her. Once you have identified that, check: “Is this something that I have in myself? Have I ever behaved like that?” If you are able to find in yourself the same thing (or something similar) that you don’t like in the other person, the solution is to learn acceptance and forgiveness toward yourself. When you can be more tolerant and compassionate toward yourself, with whatever faults you have, you will be better able to accept others as they are, and less likely to get angry at them.
Awakening the Kind Heart
Kathleen McDonald
Quiet Sitting
Quaker silent prayer & silent worship, along with Eastern Orthodox Hesychasm and Chan/Zen Buddhist silent illumination are said to be to be some of the closest modern correlates to Daoist Quiet Sitting (which is a primary meditation method of the Daoist school of Quanzhen). Each of the mentioned practices could be considered “quietistic” and involves abandonment of personal will to “divine will”, as well as, calm acceptance of things as they are without attempts to resist or change them. In the language of Daoism, this relates to wu wei/effortlessness and “guarding the feminine”, or abiding in and maintaining a state of open receptivity.
Handbooks for Daoist Practice
Louis Komjathy
Rituals are a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals, like play, create “as if” worlds through the imaginative capacity of the mind.
The practice of ritual helps us to live together in a broken world. Ritual is work, endless work. But it is among the most important things we do.
Ritual and Its Consequences
Adam Seligman, Robert Weller
Who Knows Anyhow? 