If “Wu Wei” sounds like Chinese to you, this is a good news. It is Chinese indeed!
In practical day to day English terms words, “Wu Wei” refers to the cultivation of a state of being in which our actions are quite effortlessly in alignment with the rhythms of the elements both within and outside our bodies. It is a kind of ebb and flow, an effortless surrender to the natural cycles of the world.
“By strifelessness - Wu-Wei - Lao Tse did not mean common inaction, not mere idling, with eyes closed. He meant: relaxation from earthly activity, from desire, from the craving for unreal things. But he didexact activity in realthings. He implied a powerful movement of the soul, which must be freed from its gloomy body like a bird from its cage. He meant a yielding to the inner motive-force which we derive from Tao and which leads us to Tao again. And, believe me: this movement is as natural as that of the cloud above us. High in the blue ether over our heads are golden clouds, sailing slowly towards the sea. In a little while they will be gone, vanished in the infinity of the heavens and you will see nothing but the eternal blue. Thus will your soul be absorbed into Tao.”
Wu Wei – Based on the philosophy of Lao Tse - by Henri Borel
To go with the flow of our topic of the day, we watched some extracts from below videos:
Alan Watts defines “Wu Wei” asBeing lived skilfully by the totality.
Unmani demystifies the “perfect self” myth, the “one day for me” myth! And speaks about the non doing path.
Rupert Spira uses the analogy of the sun illuminating the moon. When the sun illuminates the moon, it sends out its beams to the moon. But it effortlessly illuminates itself.
More on effortlessness and non doing in very ordinary words by James Eaton
... for another form of non-doing through the complete letting go of self importance!
Nick Willoughby puts effortlessness into a song...
And if it not enough, here is some further reading:
Enjoy!