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Daoism Spontaneity

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To a large extent I believe that is it better to live our lives spontaneously. Although spontaneity can be interpreted as impulsive, radical and not following the rules, it can also be seen as not conducting premeditated acts and not being affected by external stimuli. For the purpose of this essay, I will explore spontaneity in the Daoist scope, as well as opposing viewpoints from other Chinese philosophical schools, such as Xunzi and Daizhen. Spontaneity in Daoism is going along with the flow, and the continuation of one’s natural disposition without deliberation (DDJ 37, ZZ 1.7). The benefits of going along with the flow and living spontaneously can be demonstrated in two concepts, Wuwei and Wuyong. Wuyong means not being easily used by others and was raised in the stories of the Big Tree (ZZ P.4) and the Big Gourd (ZZ P.4), where both items were found to be useless by some but Zhuangzi maintained that they each had their purposes, suggesting that usefulness is not absolute. The Tree was not useful to …show more content…

This is also raised in the story of the Big Tree, that without artificial help it could grow to be the one who lived the longest. It is like the swimmer (ZZ P.13), who does not act on his own behalf, but simply follows the current and can then move. Taking wei as external influences imposed by the society, by practicing spontaneity one would be free of social conventions (DDJ 18). We can take the example of a drowning child who does not know how to swim, would likely survive if he/she struggled less and moved along the current. This is because the child might have heard from his/her parents (external influence) that one will drown if one does not know how to swim. However, everyone is a natural swimmer as we were all in similar environments in our mothers’ wombs. This shows how we might be better off without social

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