Always a Taoist

[Ascentionist]

At the beginning of 2024 I found myself shutting down due to magnified stress at work. I was dealing with two difficult situations in a small town and my name was being trashed all over social media. I was simply doing my job and doing it well, but I made some influential people unhappy.

I ended up developing severe anxiety and could barely get off the couch. I’ve struggled with depression for years, but I’d never had such an acute bout of anxiety.

My feeling at the time was that I had to make some serious changes or I wasn’t going to survive. I started doing a lot of hardcore self care. And part of that was that I started reading eastern philosophies. (I left the coc ten years ago and haven’t attended any other religious institution since)

I quickly gravitated to Taoism, reading the Tao Te Ching, rereading The Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet many years after the first time, and began reading a lot of Alan Watts and others.

What I discovered was that Taoism aligns with the worldview I developed as a person who grew up in the coc and even seems to meld quite well with coc dogma. At least if you approach it with an open mind.

It was comforting for me to finally find something that made sense to me and agreed with my own reason and instincts. I fully consider myself a Taoist now.

[B.H.]

the tao is but then it is not.

[Ivy]

Ascensionist, that's great!! I'd also suggest The Tao of Physics by Capra as a good read for helping one deconstruct from cofc-ness, although I bet you've already read it.

I'd be interested in hearing about how you see Taoism melding with cofc dogma.