All posts by Lao Xia

Happy γEaster!

Events, Rituals

Today it is five years ago that the gamma symbol was completed and became a guiding compass in my life. For the rest of my life I will probably celebrate the first day of April as Gamma Day.

After five years this celebration has already become a fixed ritual of my personal religion. The word religion means different things to different people and I know that this can create a lot of misunderstanding. Here religion stands for the way we reconnect (Lat.: religare) in our minds to our universal origin. The Gamma Tao is also a personal philosophy. The main objective of this philosophy (philo- “loving” + sophia “wisdom”) is to create a wisdom mindset.

For me religion and philosophy have become two sides of the same coin.

On this day I always try to visit a special place. Two years ago I was in Delphi and last year I visited the Pantheon in Rome. This year I went to the Spinoza museum in Rijnsburg. The famous Dutch philosopher Spinoza had interesting ideas about how we are all connected to the substance of the universe and the way emotions, reason and intuition shape our perception of life. He had also much to say about freedom of speech.

It is of course also Easter today.

Actually, 5 years ago, when the gamma symbol took its final form, it was Easter as well. Since then there has been a special connection in my mind between Gamma Day and Easter. In fact, the Gamma helped me to obtain a deeper understanding of the spiritual meaning of Easter and to see Christianity in a new light.

Wisdom has many sources. The Gamma Tao is a key to all wisdom traditions.

Happy γEaster!

Path of resilience

Resilience

No life is without struggle. Suffering is a part of life. We all have to face hardships sometimes. Some people suffer more than others. In these cases life seems unfair. Wisdom traditions have ways to deal with this reality. They can comfort us, provide meaning and indicate strategies to escape or confront suffering.

The Gamma Tao also offers a basic approach to suffering. In a way the whole Gamma symbol can be seen as a path of resilience.

As the open circle indicates, we have to receive and accept what is coming to us with an open mind. When something bad is happening to us, our feelings and emotions will make us aware of suffering.

The black and white dot in the theoretical Gamma symbol stands for the good and bad conditions in the present moment. This dot is like the coat of a sunflower seed. Our vitality and inner potential (or power of now) to grow out of existing conditions is the seed itself.

Provided that we are healthy and free enough to use our spiritual, emotional and rational intelligence, we can make a turnaround. The outgoing stroke of the γ is therefore the uplifting part of the Gamma symbol that goes up towards the future.

Creative responses to the challenges of life often involve a degree of transformation. They can make us rise above ourselves (and our ego).

Our responses can really make a difference. And even if it is not possible to change a situation itself, we can always change our attitude towards it and soothe negative emotions. Reducing suffering in this way brings a meaningful happiness. A kind of happiness that makes us grow and flourish.

To sum up, the Gamma path of resilience is like a sunflower seed captured in a coat marked by adversity and opportunity, full of potential to break free and flourish as a flower.

And, just like a sunflower, the Gamma Tao is always directed towards the sun.

Ubuntu

Various

It may seem that the Gamma Tao is inspired only by Western and Eastern traditions. The two main visible elements γ (gamma) and 道 (tao/dao) also contribute to this misconception. Instead the whole idea behind the Gamma is to create an inclusive, universal way of life. Just like there are categories for “world music” and “world cinema”, the Gamma Tao is a fusion of “world philosophy”.

Its mission is to pick the best from all wisdom traditions and leave local customs where they are. Local customs are often confused with the key ideas of wisdom traditions themselves. Local customs are part of cultural identity. As such they have limited universal value. In fact, they may even damage the universal appeal of a wisdom tradition. Local customs are often backward looking. The Gamma project lives in the present moment and is directed towards the future.

An important source of inspiration for the Gamma Tao that is neither from the East nor the West, is Ubuntu.

A central concept within Ubuntu and African philosophy in general is complementarity. As human beings we all need each other. Alone we are practically nobodies.

This is a key message of Ubuntu:

Umuntu Ngumuntu Ngabantu (A person is a person through other persons).

Complementarity also means that individual qualities are appreciated, but always seen as part of a greater whole.

Nelson Mandela formulated it like this:

In Africa there is a concept known as ‘ubuntu’ – the profound sense that we are human only through the humanity of others; that if we are to accomplish anything in this world it will in equal measure be due to the work and achievement of others.

Recently, I was lucky to attend a public talk of Mogobe Ramose. He has written one of the most influential books on Ubuntu: African philosophy through Ubuntu.

There are not many books on Ubuntu. It is a living, oral tradition. Ubuntu is not based on ancient written texts and therefore often not taken very seriously by philosophers or theologians used to scriptural traditions.

Ubuntu is a practical, spiritual approach to life. The word Ubuntu consists of two parts: the prefix ubu- and the stem ntu. Ubu refers to an “enveloped” potential in the universe and –ntu to its continuously developing, concrete manifestations.

Ramose talks of a stream of existence, similar to the ancient Greek concept of Panta Rhei (“everything moves”). This stream of life is like music, a dance of being that invites us all to participate. In North-Sotho, a Bantu language, there is also a saying Kosa ga e theeletswe o e duletse (You do not listen to music sitting down).

This music also leads to the desire for harmony that exists within communities inspired by Ubuntu. This harmony can only be achieved through the interplay of the emotional and rational intelligence of all participants.

In a kgotla, a community meeting or council, the search for consensus can be quite a lengthy process. Ramose quotes the saying Le leke la mo tlhakola pele a fetsa go nyela (Somebody’s anus should not be cleaned before he is done). It means that everyone should be heard, because even from nonsense something useful can be learned.

This practice of consensus may be easier in a village somewhere in Botswana than in our modern global village full of political bullshit. But the lesson remains. If we want to solve the problems of the world, we should start to really listen to each other. It all starts with an open mind.

Ubuntu can also teach us an holistic way to connect to the world. Its spirit of complementarity stretches out from the natural world, the land, the plants and animals to the generations before and after us. Within Ubuntu we have obligations to all.

So even though the focus of the Gamma Tao is on personal development, based on the idea that we can actually develop a wisdom mindset, the outcome should always transcend ourselves and our ego.

Ubuntu teaches us that we can only flourish together.

Stepping Stones

Ethics, Practice

The Gamma Tao is easy to understand, but more difficult to practice.

To be honest, I like to sit in my room to read and meditate about how to live a good life. I can spend hours reading books about philosophy or religion, absorbing ideas of famous thinkers and explore fundamental questions of life in my head. In a way I am attracted to a contemplative life (vita contemplativa), but I know this can easily become an intellectual comfort zone.

All philosophies of life should be tested in real life situations, outside the safe environment of a cosy living room. The Gamma Tao should not only be great in theory, but more than that it has to be useful and practical in real life during interactions with other people and the natural world.

Vita contemplativa and vita activa should complement and enrich each other in a continuous feedback loop. The theoretical form of the Gamma Symbol can be used for contemplation, the practical form of the Gamma Tao indicates the way to an active life.

Below are seven basic and practical stepping stones that may help us in the balancing act of life. They are based on the practical symbol, but of course they are not exclusive to the Gamma Tao. Stepping stones like this can be found in many streams of thought:

  • Set a good intention
    An important first step is to set the intention to always do the right thing. A morning ritual might help to set this intention. Beware that we never know what will happen next. Good intentions can easily be disturbed. We may need to reset ourselves to this good default intention various times during the day. In this way we become people of good will and practice benevolence.
  • Open your mind
    It is impossible to know everything. No matter how smart or wise we think we are, we are actually ignorant about most things in life. We do not even fully know ourselves. Our own perspective is limited by nature. Therefore we are constant in need of input from others to correct and complement our views. Open-mindedness does not mean that we listen to the same group of people all the time. Especially nowadays it is easy to enter a bubble where you only find confirmation of your own views. Prepare yourself to find other points of view, especially ones that challenge your own ideas. This is real open-mindedness.
  • Accept what crosses your path
    The world continuously confronts us with new situations. These situations may be good for us or not so good. They may be the result of our own doing or just fate. Whatever the cause, we have to deal with them. It is often a good idea to start counting our blessings. These blessings came to us before the present situation arose. They include our inner potentials and (hidden) talents. Inner treasures like these are our Golden Gift. If we learn to cultivate gratitude for them, we increase our inner strength and happiness. This practice can prepare us to face the situation at hand in a better way.
  • Listen to your heart  
    We become aware of the world through the interplay of our senses and emotions. We are sentient beings with human emotions. Through our own emotions we learn what it means to be a human being. Our inner talent for empathy helps us to develop human values. The Golden Rule is a treasure based on empathy that teaches us to refrain from doing to others what we do not want others to do to us. If we manage to internalise this, we will develop our sense of compassion. We should try to face all situations with compassion or kindness.
  • Use your head
    Passions always have intensity. If we are passionate, they are strong. If we are indifferent, they are weak. The intensity of our emotions also fluctuates in time. If the intensity of an emotion is too strong, first take a deep breath.
    This is the moment to use our head, take some distance from our emotions and create space for rational thinking. If we take various points of view and also include the standpoints of others, we are able to put things in perspective. Since only exceptional situations call for extreme measures, the Golden Mean is a useful treasure to keep in mind when we try to find the just proportion for our reactions. Since we are not alone in this world, we cannot always have it our way. In most cases we must apply diplomatic skills of compromise. This does not mean that we must always end up somewhere in the middle. A middle position can lead to a stagnant status quo. If we take the Golden Ratio as an example, we may find natural proportions of progress.
  • React in a humane way
    Life is a continuous practice of receiving and giving. First we must accept what comes to us and then we have to give a reaction. As human beings we can use our  talents, emotions and ratio to give a creative and unique response to the situations we face. Our good intentions should guide us in an uplifting and humane direction.
    We are not things or numbers, but human beings with emotional, rational and probably even spiritual intelligence. That is why robots with artificial intelligence may help us out in practical ways, but they will never be able to replace us and create a humane society.
  • Go beyond
    We have to learn from our experiences. Examine your life. Life is a learning process. Otherwise we will make the same mistakes again and again. If we continue to practice, we may develop the skills to do the right thing in a natural, spontaneous way and reach a level of mastership in the art of living.
    Such a mastership will eventually go beyond the Gamma Tao. It will become a process to transform and transcend ourselves (and our ego). The Gamma Tao shows the initial steps of this path and as a compass for wisdom and compassion it only indicates the basic directions. All philosophical and spiritual traditions, their practices of reasoning, meditation and prayer, together with the latest scientific insights, can teach us all that we know about the living art of being in the universe.
This exploration of life is like a great adventure.
Even when we achieve a certain level of life mastership (reaching maturity is often a first step), we will never become supermen. We cannot do everything by ourselves. We will always need others.
During our steps on the stepping stones of life it is always good to remember the Serenity Prayer:
God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.
Life is always a balancing act.
It is OK that once in a while we lose our balance, fall and get really wet. In these cases we have no other choice than to stand up and try again.
Only by trying again and again we may learn and eventually master.

More Than Happiness

Books

A few weeks ago I saw “More than happiness” by Antonia Macaro in a book shop. It was on a table full of new philosophy books. Even though it was still 2017 its copyright already indicated 2018. The copies must have just arrived! I had promised myself not to buy books that day, but I could not resist the temptation to read a book about “Buddhist and Stoic Wisdom for a Sceptical Age”.

Now I am really glad I bought “More Than Happiness”. If the Gamma Tao was a publishing house, it would publish books like this. Antonia Macaro is an existential psychotherapist with a long-standing interest in both Buddhism and Stoicism. In this book she explains both wisdom traditions, compares them and finally extracts some learnings that are relevant for modern readers. She also carefully separates practical wisdom from transcendental speculations. After all, we live in a sceptical age.

In the title “More Than Happiness” Antonia Macaro already distances itself from self help books that promise happiness. This should not surprise us. Buddhism and Stoicism are not exactly known for their optimistic view on life.

For Buddhism suffering or Dukkha is the basic condition of human life. Its cause is ignorance or craving. The Buddhist path is the medicine that leads to the cessation of suffering or enlightenment. Stoics see emotions as the main cause for suffering. Harmful emotions arise from faulty value judgements that need to be corrected in order to get Stoic peace of mind.

Ethics and insight are at the heart of both traditions and their overall message is clearly one of renunciation. “We’d all benefit from taking a more detached view of our objects of desire”, writes Macaro. She observes that both traditions set a “very high ethical bar” and “hold a lofty ideal of an individual who has developed perfect spontaneous morality”: the sage and the Buddha.

It is interesting to read how Antonia Macaro discusses the role of compassion and equanimity in Buddhism and Stoicism:

The most distinctive intersection of Buddhist and Stoic ethics is the ideal of sympathetic detachment – a kind of engagement with others that comes from a place of nonattachment. This requires attaining an optimal blend of compassion and equanimity, combining appropriate engagement with the ability to avoid being tossed around by emotions.

The last two chapters of the book are dedicated to Buddhist and Stoic practice and she concludes with ten meditations that are inspired by Buddhist and Stoic insights and aim to put some of them into action.

These meditations are:

  1. Get into the self-monitoring habit
  2. Question your thinking
  3. Remind yourself that “it’s a cup” (about attachment)
  4. Don’t get hung up on status and reputation
  5. Radiate goodwill
  6. Don’t be too optimistic
  7. Think about death (but not too much)
  8. Consider the bigger picture
  9. Use common sense
  10. Be quiet

Meditations like these are a good example of how classic wisdom traditions can be a source of inspiration for modern life. At the same time she remains critical of certain aspects of Stoicism and Buddhism and does not place them on a pedestal. That exactly is also the scope of the Gamma Tao. I therefore highly recommend this book, especially for readers who are new to Buddhism and Stoicism.

Let’s conclude with the final words of the “More Than Happiness”:

We should cultivate clarity and curiosity, contentment and compassion. ‘Life is short. That’s all there is to say. Get what you can from the present – thoughtfully, justly’, says Marcus (Aurelius). We should not aim to make ourselves fortress-like, but to be vulnerable more wisely.

Happy New Year!

Various

Happy New Year!

This is a picture I made last year at the Snow Light Path Festival in Otaru, a small city on the island of Hokkaido in the north of Japan.

The festival is an exhibition of beautiful lights and decorations made of ice. Most of the lights are placed along a long path thus creating a walk of almost magical beauty.

I like this particular decoration very much. It has the form of a heart and contains many small lighted hearts inside, just like our own hearts contain many different passions.

The light in the foreground is like a guardian. Made out of ice and autumn leaves this light seems to protect our inner passions.

Keep your passions alive in 2018!

Sunflower Seed Day

Events, Rituals

Exactly five years ago I woke up in the early morning with the urge to write a book on religion and philosophy. I did not write a book, but this “awakening” was the seed for this website and the Gamma Tao.

That is why December 27th has become a special day for me.

It is “Sunflower Seed Day“.

Sunflower Seed Day is a day to plant new ideas and initiatives in your head. The timing is perfect for New Year’s resolutions.

This year Sunflower Seed Day is even more special, because I just finished a complete revision of the basic texts on this website.

I hope this seed will continue to grow!

Gamma Tao

Symbol, Taoism

The gamma way symbol has a new fresh appearance. This new symbol marks an important step in the continuous transformation of the gamma philosophy.

The “classic” gamma way symbol will not disappear. It stands for theory and traditions. The new Gamma Tao emphasizes practice and spontaneity.

Without theory there is no practice, so both symbols will continue to have their function.

The new symbol has a more Taoistic form. This is also reflected in the name “Gamma Tao” that I will use more and more going forward.

The Gamma Tao is set to be a perfect blend of Eastern and Western philosophies of life. Actually it aims to stand for much more than that: a basic, interfaith and open world philosophy of life.

Not only East and West. The profound wisdom of Indigenous and African traditions will continue to be a major source of inspiration.

The new Gamma Tao symbol represents spontaneity. Therefore the Greek letter γ (gamma) is now written in a single and fluent stroke, inspired by Eastern calligraphy.

The open circle hints at the Zen circle (ensō, 円相) that expresses a moment when the mind is free to let the body create. Within the Zen tradition ensō also symbolizes enlightenment, strength, elegance and emptiness.

Most versions of the Zen ensō are closed. The Gamma Tao circle however is open to emphasize that an open mind is essential to the Gamma Tao.

The hand-drawn gamma itself stands for the process of receiving and giving.

Life is a process of receiving and giving. As living human beings we need to accept what is given to us (the good and the not so good), process all this within our potentials and then transcend ourselves (and our egos) to give back the best that we can do.

In most religious traditions the need to transcend the ego plays an important role. This is never easy to do. In the Gamma Tao symbol this difficulty is expressed in the way the outgoing gamma stroke meets a closed part of the circle.

Most situations we face in our lives hit us first in our emotional side. We need to turn them around to find a human and creative response to them. Our rational side can contribute to find this response and also establish the just proportions for it.

This creative process is expressed in the loop of the gamma stroke.

The left part of the Gamma Tao symbol continues to stand for our emotional side and the right part for our rational side. The upper part of the γ refers to the spiritual qualities we may have.

The new Gamma Tao symbol represents both life as a whole as every single situation we face.

As said before, the classic gamma symbol will continue to be in use. After all, symbols are only helpful means.

The classic symbol is helpful to remind us of the Golden Gift, the Golden Rule and the Golden Mean and its values of Gratitude, Compassion and Proportion.

The new Gamma Tao symbol stresses the fact that we have to master the theory and act spontaneously in the moment.

Apology Week

Events, Rituals

Today is the first day of Apology Week 2017.

It is the third time I am observing this young gamma tradition. It is a week of abstention and meditation.

This week I will try to abstain as much as possible from certain sweet things in life. So no (added) sugars and light entertainment for me. I will also try to eat as vegan as possible. I may still add a few other things to stay away from. This tradition is still new.

No chocolate for a whole week already feels like a big sacrifice for me. More important is that I will meditate in the morning and evening about the collective guilt that I share as a human being.

I believe that I do have a share in the misery my species has caused in this world. Even though my personal conscience is relatively clear, there are innumerable ways in which I have taken some advantage or privilege, directly or indirectly, from acts of injustice committed by the likes of me, whether as a species as a whole or as part of a tribe.

Every day of Apology Week is dedicated to a specific theme.

  • Day 1: Apologies to the earth
  • Day 2: Apologies to animals
  • Day 3: Apologies to (underprivileged) social groups
  • Day 4: Apologies to (other) genders
  • Day 5: Apologies to (other) cultural traditions
  • Day 6: Apologies to (ethnic) minorities
  • Day 7: Apologies to individuals (and all the rest)

By the end of the week, on the day of Winter Solstice, there can be no absolution.

Hopefully some good resolutions will have come into my mind, so I can make some difference in the new year. It does not have to be something big.

I should not become overwhelmed by collective guilt during Apology Week. Nobody can take the enormous weight of human collective guilt upon his or her shoulders. Collective guilt should always be handled in a just collective proportion.

There is also no chance that I will become a misanthrope during Apology Week. On the contrary, I firmly believe that all human beings always have the potential to do something good.

Apology Week is above all a week of reflection.

Feel free to join and create your own version!

On December 21st, just after sunset, Apology Week will end with a piece of pure, bittersweet chocolate.

Study in the Stoic way

Traditions, ,

Recently I attended a lecture of the Italian philosopher and biologist Massimo Pigliucci on tour to promote his new book How to Be a Stoic. Using Ancient Philosophy to Live a Modern Life.

Massimo Pigliucci is quickly becoming one of the main representatives of Modern Stoicism. He runs a popular blog and takes part in many activities to promote this ancient philosophy. Last weekend he conducted a workshop on Stoicism in Rome. I would have loved to join. He is great teacher and I like the idea to study classics in their historical environment.

In both his book and lecture, which was quite similar to this one on YouTube, Pigliucci makes a compelling case for Modern Stoicism.

My first encounter with Stoicism was at high school. The teachers treated Stoicism as a historical phenomenon that belonged exclusively to Antiquity. I learned about Logos, equanimity and “secundum Naturam vivere” (living according to Nature) mainly in order to reproduce these concepts in examinations.
The concepts stayed with me, but I did not think much about them. Just for fun I memorized a random sentence from Seneca’s advice to Lucilius: “Nihil vero tam damnosum bonis moribus quam in aliquo spectaculo desidere” (Nothing really is so damaging to morality than to assist at some kind of spectacle). It never stopped me to visit concerts and festivals.

Later in life I became more attracted to Horace’ Carpe Diem and theories of happiness of Epicurus and Aristotle. Stoicism always seemed a bit Puritan. Pigliucci talks about the “stiff upper lip” and asserts that this qualification does not do justice to most Stoic philosophers. While Heraclitus and Socrates became my real heroes, a fascination with Roman emperors finally led to a lasting admiration for the Stoic Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Last year I even went so far as to sent a copy of the Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations to Donald Trump to congratulate him on his victory in the U.S. elections, hoping he would take some wise Stoic teachings to heart. It may seem a bit of a crazy whim now, but at that moment in time it felt as the right thing for me to do.

I do not know whether the book ever reached his desk at Trump Tower (probably not), but, as Stoic philosophy teaches us, one should never worry about things that are out of our hands. Or in the words of the Serenity Prayer (also quoted in Pigliucci’s book):

God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.

“Nice try!”, said Massimo Pigliucci to me, when I told him about this spontaneous action during the book signing session.

Stoicism can be particularly helpful when we face the hardships of life. Impressive is the story of James Stockdale who managed to survive more than seven years of imprisonment and torture thanks to the words of Epictetus and how Lawrence Becker, author of Modern Stoicism, deals with invalidity.

I enjoyed the book very much, but Pigliucci did not convince me to become a Stoic. I am not looking for a particular school of thought (or religion) to define my identity. If Socrates was a gadfly, I prefer to remain as free as bee and move from flower to flower causing cross pollinations. So after tasting the nectar of this book I am more open than ever to take Stoic advice whenever the occasion arises.

The book also gave me a new perspective on the gamma way.

The Stoics founded their philosophy on three topoi or areas of inquiry: Physics, Ethics and Logic. Pigliucci explains the relationships between these topoi, the cardinal values and disciplines of Stoicism here.

I now believe that these three topoi can also be a good starting point for me to develop the gamma way. I only would add a small “meta” to Physics, because in our modern age Physics has become an exclusive scientific domain. The Stoics themselves did not practice modern science when they speculated on the Logos (even though they had a form of peer review).

Anyone who wants to learn from various wisdom traditions, should also be open for metaphysical speculations. The criterium should not be whether such speculations are true or not (in most cases we cannot tell anyway), but to understand how useful and/or insightful they are within their own traditions and possibly beyond.

In such a gamma curriculum (meta)Physics would be dedicated to the study of the nature of things (like all human knowledge and speculations about the universe, nature, consciousness). Ethics would mainly focus on the study of psychology (the nature of emotions and feelings) and the way to connect to each other and our environment. And finally, the topos of Logic should be aimed to increase our abilities of good judgment and to act accordingly.

The Stoic values in the scheme above do not automatically fall into place on the circular gamma model. Justice and temperance for example belong to the gamma domain of Logic, connected as they are to the key value Proportion. 

These differences do not really matter. Stoicism and the gamma way have a different scope. The gamma way is a simple and basic moral compass for an open exploration of wisdom traditions. Stoicism is an established school of thought itself.

That said, all arrangements of topoi, values, disciplines, symbols and stories are in the end just helpful for a good life.

A real sage does not need any of them to live according to Nature.