Sadly, this Lao-Tzu looks rather uninteresting. He's about 6'3" tall with brown hair and blue eyes. Ten fingers, ten toes, two legs, two arms... pretty much the usual number of everything. Although he's fully autonomous most of the time, three people are actually in charge in his head: Simon, Bill, and Ted. They don't come out much. So, that's the usual number of everything, except with three voices in the head.
If you have something to say, e-mail me at laotzu@pobox.com, or use my e-mail form.
I've got an occasionally maintained website where my madness is properly portrayed.
Lao Tzu taught that all straining, all striving are not only vain but counterproductive. One should endeavor to do nothing (wu-wei). But what does this mean? It means not to literally do nothing, but to discern and follow the natural forces -- to follow and shape the flow of events and not to pit oneself against the natural order of things. First and foremost to be spontaneous in ones actions.
In this sense the Taoist doctrine of wu-wei can be understood as a way of mastering circumstances by understanding their nature of principal, and then shaping ones actions in accordance with these. This understanding has also infused the approach to movement as it is developed in Tai Chi Chuan.
Understanding this, Taoist philosophy followed a very interesting circle. On the one hand, the Taoists, rejected by the Confucian attempts to regulate life and society and counseled instead to turn away from it to a solitary contemplation of nature. On the other hand they believed that by doing so one could ultimately harness the powers of the universe. By 'doing nothing' one could 'accomplish everything.'
* The Taoist sage has no ambitions, therefore he can never fail. He who never fails always succeeds. And he who always succeeds is all-powerful.
He is asleep.
He is carrying communicator, emergency transponder, Holder, MOO Todo, Lao-Tzu's phaser, a good soundtrack, Guest's GPS map, and card case.