The Chicago Taoism Study Group seeks to explore the ironic, absurb and penetratingly insightful gentle "way" of wisdom - and hopefully in the process reach the end of logic and enjoy a really good laugh. In the ancient Far East, Taoism traditionally was the pursuit of older citizens, who - having fulfilled their civic and worldly duties - abandoned society retreating to mountain hermitages to sit by streams and observe the changing seasons divining skillfull and elegant means of aligning one's inner and outer nature with the larger "canopy of nature" enveloping them.

Taoism can signify an unknowable and emphemeral cosmology - the "Void" - out of which every experience and being is born. But it can also reflect the smaller notion of understanding one's own nature as captured by the concept of "the uncarved block."

Seemingly both simple and enigmatic, the writings point to a commonsense appreciation of the here and now - with no attempt to make oneself useful (or useless); but rather embodying a spirit that abandons struggle and intentioned design.

The two main works explored are the Tao te Ching and the Chuang Tzu.

Yet, the group is opened to any ideas that touch on the essence of the writings.

Curiously, the Tao te Ching represents on one level a primer for how a ruler should run a country (i.e. "like one cooks a small fish - don't handle it too much or it will break apart").

The Chuang Tzu is less well-known but more "earthy" and more accessible - plus a little more ridiculously informative. The "skill stories" are particularly poignant and memorable.

The format of the meetings is pretty loose - very loose. Basically, there is no structure.

We start from the premise (based on the Tao te Ching) that "Those who know do not speak and those who speak do not know." So right from the outset it's impossible for anyone to take anything anybody says too incredibly seriously. Polemical discussions have a tendency to become quickly smashed against the rocks of ridiculousness.

But members of the group are well-read, broad-minded and contemplative - a respectful and spirited sense of discovery, curiousity and communal exploration prevails.

Taoism tends to be roughly divided into two broad categories: philosophical taosim and religious taoism. Our group is concerned mainly with the philosophical. Religious taoism tends toward practices involving the augmenting of longeivity and increasing ones hopes for immortality. In that regard it seems to violate the concepts of uselessness that philosophical taoism appears to embody/eschew. Still, we are interested in anything that increases our understanding and appreciation of the tradition.

The irony contained within the writings is enough to inspire one to keep returning for more.

But more than that, it's a friendly crew and very patient and helpful - and there always seems to arise that point in the discussion where we find ourselves so far off topic and misdirected and hopelessly lost that we somehow unwittingly manage - despite our best efforts - to penetrate to the very essence of the issue we initially set out to explore. And more often than not, we find ourselves laughing at the vast futility of the entire project - and it seems that contained within this laughter is the seed of wisdom that we have always possessed and never lost.

In this way we somehow manage to breathe life into the words and make them real.

See you soon.

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Chicago Taoism Study Group http://photos4.meetupstatic.com/photos/event/a/f/2/6/global_4124838.jpeg
Chicago, IL 60610
Founded Apr 5, 2003
20030405
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