As somebody who is interested in Stoic philosophy and who tries his best to practice the Stoic way of life, I have found the insights and teaching of Lao-Tzu, the founder of the philosophy of Daoism as inseparable from the Stoic teachings. Two intertwining philosophical views that complete one another. Where Stoicism fails in its rejection of mysticism, is where Daosim completes it in its spirituality, where Daoism fails in giving clear instruction, Stoicism is firm in the rules it’s followers must follow to achieve their goals. The two philosophies carry a very similar message, and stem from the same roots, although they grow in the gardens of two different cultures, in the modern age they combine well into a full spiritual and philosophical approach to life.

The two philosophies have a similar principle about which much has been written, but rarely has it been understood. In Stoic thoughts, we have the concept of the Logos, in it’its meaning Logos represents some sort of divine reason, according to which all things in the world exist and continue to exist and change. It is both the first mover from whom the world cane into being, and the reason behind the mechanism of its continual changing. This is an impersonal type of higher existence, unknowable to man, yet it is perfect in its reason and harmony. As a compliment to this Stoic concept, we have its’s Daosit counterpart in the concept of the Dao. The Dao (or Tao) when translated into English has a dual meaning, it can mean both “The Way” and “The Word”, yet it’s nature is not dual at all. People see the Daoist symbol of Yin and Yang (which we will later discuss) and wrongly assume that the Daoist world view is dualistic , it is not, rather it’s monistic in the was that from the Dao stem all thing, the Dao is all things, and the Dao is the thing which is the same for all things. The concept of the Dao may best be explained to our modern minds as the underlining logic behind all thing. The unseen mechanism of existence. It is different than the Logos in Stoicism in the way that Dao does not necessarily represent divine reason, I would rather say that it represents divine instinct in the way things are ordered. A good example for this is the Daoist principal of Wei Wu Wei, which means “Action without Action”. Prescribing to the followers of Daoist teachings that their life should be lived in a state of flow, without forcing anything. And effortless living, where effortlessness gets all the necessary things accomplished without straining itself. It is the belief that when you allow yourself to be yourself, and your inner nature to take control of your actions, feeling and words, your life becomes easy and effortless, yet fulfilled and accomplished. Once we get to exits in accordance with our inner nature, our actions become the extension of ourselves, and thus must not be forced. As I write this and example comes to my mind, as a writer I’ve experienced this state of flow as we westerners may call it, that when I write i”m not thinking about what I’m writing, the words o the page are just a projection of my inner self, my inner nature is writing for me and thus my writing is complete through effortless action, the same happens in many other activities in our life without us even realizing it, this state of flow is the ultimate state of being that the Daoist strive for.

A good introduction to Daoism by the western thinker Alan Watts(Watch it later, it’s long):

The state of flow is the state in which your are one with the Dao, and there is no separation between yourself, and your actions, thus making the outside world the projection of your inner world. We can say that the Dao is the thing that happens when all things follow their inner nature, thus bringing the whole of existence into balance and harmony, thus nothing is perfect and yet everything is as it should be. If you think about it, this concept in very similar to the Stoic teaching of Amor Fati, the love for one’s fate, whatever the world brings to you accept it as things which are as they are and allow your fate to dictate your actions (fate might be the same as inner nature for Daoists), nothing is perfect but everything is as it should be.

The Dao is also similar to the logos in the way that both cannot be clearly defined or understood, since both are divine principles outside the understanding of the human mind, yet both can be perceived though observation of nature, and the position of oneself in nature. This is illustrated very poetically in the opening lines of the Tao-Te-Ching (the principal book of Daoist philosophy, written by the founder of this school of thought):

“The Dao is not the Dao which can be Daoed.” which can be translated into understandable English either as “The Way is not the way which can be traveled.” or “The Word is not the word which can be spoken.” thus explains to those curious in learning about the Dao that they already know it, and must embody it in order to perceive it. The Dao and The Logos are not things which need to be understood, but felt and seen in nature as the ultimate guiding principles to which their followers must surrender in order to achieve the ultimate state of being which is flow.

The principle of Wei-Wu-Wei explained:

The Ying-Yang is seen from the perspective outside of Daosit thought as a dualistic concept, as I’ve said earlier this could not be further from the truth. As Lao-Tzu says, the Dao is the source of all thing, and from Dao there came two, those being Yin and Yang, the two metaphysical energies of the universe, and through the combination of Yin and Yang and through their balance, there came into being all other things. (The phrase ten thousand things in Daoism representing the material world.) These two energies are different, yet are the same, they arise mutually. There is no Yin without Yang and no Tang without Ying, just like rain and flowers, these are two completely separate things, but they arise mutually in nature, when there is no rain there are no flowers, and if there are flowers here must have been rain, they are different yet when perceived in nature they cannot be separated, so is with the Ying and the Yang. The Yin represents the divine feminine, the energy of creativity, compassion, kindness and the gentler things in life, the Yang is the divine masculine, positive aggression, protectiveness, ambition, success and so on. Neither is bad, imbalance of the two is what creates evil, thus a good Dost does not seek to be on the side of one virtue over the other, since both arise mutually, one cannot have a virtue of Yin without a virtue of Yang to accompany it. A weak man cannot be good, since his goodness arises out of his power to do evil, a kind woman must in the same measure be harsh when someone deserves her harshness, or her virtue of kindness becomes her undoing.

Here we also see a comparison to be made with Stoic, or more broadly ancient Greek thought. The principles of Yin and Yang are very similar with Aristotle principle of balance. The –, that all thing, all vie rues and vises should be done in moderation in order to achieve a good life, a teaching with which most Stoics would agree, since having measure in one’s action, emotions and words is also a key principle of Stoicism. Thus, we again see that these two seemingly different philosophical views carry rather the same message only one speak it through the voice of reason and the other through the voice of spirituality, both are as potent and one can choose to which he likes to listen more, my advice is to abandon this choice, and practice both philosophies as they ultimately complete and fulfill one another.

The path of learning how to become the best man we can be in the modern world is a hard one. A lot of contradictory information and teaching is presented to you. I found that for myself the combination of Daoist and Stoic philosophy combined with the concepts of traditional masculinity is the path I need to take to achieve my life goals, and get free from the bonds of a decadent society towards which we are now moving. For more first-hand info on the Daosit teaching read the Tao-Te-Ching through the following link. I’ll be doing more articles on the Daoist way in the future so make sure to follow my blog via the subscription form at the bottom of the page. If you enjoy my wiring and would like to support my work please share this article and consider donating via the Donate page. Thank you for reading.

Further reading on Daosim:

Taoism 101: Introduction to the Tao

Daoist Blog of Nameless Stream

diary of a daoist hermit