Philosophy

WuWei – How non-doing get’s it all done

Achieving what you want in life without doing anything can either sound like a welcome invitation to sit back and chill out or like complete nonsense. The Daoist concept of WuWei is based on exactly that, yet this term is often misinterpreted.

WuWei is Chinese and means “effortless action“, a concept that sounds paradoxical in the context of our growth based Western Society. Yet according to Dao De Jing, which is the central text of Daoism, WuWei is at the heart of following the Dao (The Way) and therefore the noblest kind of action.

“The Way never acts, yet nothing is left undone.”

Dao De Jing

The principle of WuWei springs from the value that Daoists place on the natural world. At the heart of it is a dynamic model of the universe in which ceaseless fluctuations of the Dao (The Way) leads to the cosmos unfolding spontaneously.

Everything in the universe, including you and me, have in accord with the Dao our own natural course which is unfolding in every second. If left untouched, this leads to flourishment. Through our attachments and ideas on how we think the world is supposed to be, we often interfere with this natural way and block out spontaneity.

In Essence, WuWei doesn’t mean not-acting, it means acting effortlessly and according to the Flow of Life. Through implementing the spirit of WuWei, you carry out the most complex tasks peacefully and efficiently. It’s the artist that steps back behind the painting or the composition that just came through the musician. These states are closely linked to “being in the Zone” or “being in Flow“.

Nature adapts to everything happening, not fighting against wind, rain or a tree growing nearby but instead growing around or with it. You too should adapt to challenges outside without resistance or violently trying to mold them into your fixed imaginations on how things ought to be.

“Water is fluid, soft, and yielding. But water will wear away rock, which is rigid and cannot yield. As a rule, whatever is fluid, soft, and yielding will overcome whatever is rigid and hard. This is another paradox: what is soft is strong.”

Lao Tzu

Acting in accordance with WuWei doesn’t mean we can’t change things or circumstances. Quite the opposite, as the quote above points out: We should try to be like water. We can take the shape of the obstacle, move around it and slowly erode it in time. Out of this comes a sense of unity between yourself and the environment by letting go of your firm shape of Ego.

The next time you come across something that you perceive as an obstacle, I advise you to take a step back and breathe deeply. Recognize what it is you are resisting or what it is you are desperately trying to see happening.

What you resist is that which you instead need to accept, because just like a rock in a river, it is already there. Mostly, we tend to resist our own feelings. If you feel sad, if you feel anxious, allow all those things to be there. Resisting them is what hurts you, not the feelings themselves.

If you have trouble with accepting a certain situation, this post about Radical Acceptance might be for you.

When trying to accomplish something that just does not seem to be happening, try letting go of your fixed ideal of the outcome. Take a real, honest look at where you are at and what your outside circumstances are like, accept them and then act accordingly.

By letting go of the when, the how and the “what is needed”, you’ll allow creative spontaneity to work its way.

“Do you have the patience to wait
Till your mud settles and the water is clear?
Can you remain unmoving
Till the right action arises by itself?

Lao Tzu