Benebell Wen | Wu Wei 無為 (Taoist Non-Action) @BenebellWen | Uploaded March 2024 | Updated October 2024, 3 hours ago.
This is a video lecture on the Taoist principle of wu wei 無為, commonly translated into English as “non-action.”
Timestamps:
00:00 Review of what I said on wu wei in a previous video
00:24 Wu wei in a nutshell
00:59 What the Tao Te Ching (6th century BC) says about wu wei
01:33 Tao Te Ching Verse 2
02:19 The Tao as a divine monad vs. polytheistic view of the many gods, spirits, and demons that are the fragmented parts of the Tao
03:49 Tao Te Ching Verse 38 [Note: There is a typo in the top right corner. It should cite the book "德經" of the TTC]
04:17 Tao Te Ching Verse 37 [Note: Same typo as previous]
05:42 Reflection: Synthesize the word for word translations and interpret Verse 37 for yourself
07:51 Wu wei as political philosophy and military strategy
08:36 What the Xunzi 荀子 (4th century BC) says about wu wei [Text that should have appeared on screen here: 譬之是猶以盲辨色，以聾辨聲也，舍亂妄無為也]
08:56 What the Zhuangzi 莊子 (5th - 3rd century BC) says about wu wei
10:01 What the Xinyu 新語 by Lu Jia 陸賈 (240 BC – 170 BC) says about wu wei
10:37 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 1
11:45 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 2
12:36 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 3
13:40 Comparing Lu Jia’s philosophy of wu wei to the Tao Te Ching Verse 63 | Error in Script: This should be Verse 57: "我無為，而民自化 (Wǒ wú wéi, ér mín zì huà)"
14:08 Tao Te Ching Verse 43; I Ching hexagram 42 (Yi: Burgeoning)
15:03 Comparing Lu Jia’s philosophy with Stoicism and Diogenes of Babylon (200 – 100 BC)
15:57 Key distinctions between Confucianist, Taoist, and Buddhist interpretations of wu wei
17:03 Reflection: Per your interpretation of these texts articulating wu wei, what does the concept mean to you?
ADDENDUM: How might everyday people like us apply this philosophical principle? Here are my personal thoughts.
- At the government level, it means prioritizing individual liberty when it comes to law and public policy. It means giving people the freedom to be who they want to be, but also investing a great deal in education and inspiring the people toward modeling virtue. A truly just, peaceful, and good society begins at the top. Your leaders must first model virtue before you expect that of the people.
- In terms of our relationship with nature and the environment, it means construction that is in harmony with the natural topography, rather than trying to defeat the natural topography. Basically, feng shui principles.
- And at the family level, it means intuitive parenting. It’s letting the interests, innate disposition, strengths and weaknesses of your child guide how you parent. It does not mean hands-off parenting. It means not trying to change the nature and innate disposition of your child. In fact, it means as a parent, you want to do everything you can to nurture the best out of the nature of your child. Wu wei parenting means modeling virtuous behavior to inspire your child to be virtuous.
- In education, wu wei means teachers don’t force or compel students to learn at the teacher’s expected pace of progress. It’s letting students learn at their own natural pace.
- At the individual level, wu wei doesn’t mean don’t be ambitious. It means doing The Work out of a natural, unforced passion for The Work, and then not desiring credit or glory for achieving The Work.
See also the companion video lecture on ziran 自然:
youtu.be/EvXSuKYA_Gg
This is a video lecture on the Taoist principle of wu wei 無為, commonly translated into English as “non-action.”
Timestamps:
00:00 Review of what I said on wu wei in a previous video
00:24 Wu wei in a nutshell
00:59 What the Tao Te Ching (6th century BC) says about wu wei
01:33 Tao Te Ching Verse 2
02:19 The Tao as a divine monad vs. polytheistic view of the many gods, spirits, and demons that are the fragmented parts of the Tao
03:49 Tao Te Ching Verse 38 [Note: There is a typo in the top right corner. It should cite the book "德經" of the TTC]
04:17 Tao Te Ching Verse 37 [Note: Same typo as previous]
05:42 Reflection: Synthesize the word for word translations and interpret Verse 37 for yourself
07:51 Wu wei as political philosophy and military strategy
08:36 What the Xunzi 荀子 (4th century BC) says about wu wei [Text that should have appeared on screen here: 譬之是猶以盲辨色，以聾辨聲也，舍亂妄無為也]
08:56 What the Zhuangzi 莊子 (5th - 3rd century BC) says about wu wei
10:01 What the Xinyu 新語 by Lu Jia 陸賈 (240 BC – 170 BC) says about wu wei
10:37 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 1
11:45 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 2
12:36 Xinyu, Article 4 on Wu Wei, Verse 3
13:40 Comparing Lu Jia’s philosophy of wu wei to the Tao Te Ching Verse 63 | Error in Script: This should be Verse 57: "我無為，而民自化 (Wǒ wú wéi, ér mín zì huà)"
14:08 Tao Te Ching Verse 43; I Ching hexagram 42 (Yi: Burgeoning)
15:03 Comparing Lu Jia’s philosophy with Stoicism and Diogenes of Babylon (200 – 100 BC)
15:57 Key distinctions between Confucianist, Taoist, and Buddhist interpretations of wu wei
17:03 Reflection: Per your interpretation of these texts articulating wu wei, what does the concept mean to you?
ADDENDUM: How might everyday people like us apply this philosophical principle? Here are my personal thoughts.
- At the government level, it means prioritizing individual liberty when it comes to law and public policy. It means giving people the freedom to be who they want to be, but also investing a great deal in education and inspiring the people toward modeling virtue. A truly just, peaceful, and good society begins at the top. Your leaders must first model virtue before you expect that of the people.
- In terms of our relationship with nature and the environment, it means construction that is in harmony with the natural topography, rather than trying to defeat the natural topography. Basically, feng shui principles.
- And at the family level, it means intuitive parenting. It’s letting the interests, innate disposition, strengths and weaknesses of your child guide how you parent. It does not mean hands-off parenting. It means not trying to change the nature and innate disposition of your child. In fact, it means as a parent, you want to do everything you can to nurture the best out of the nature of your child. Wu wei parenting means modeling virtuous behavior to inspire your child to be virtuous.
- In education, wu wei means teachers don’t force or compel students to learn at the teacher’s expected pace of progress. It’s letting students learn at their own natural pace.
- At the individual level, wu wei doesn’t mean don’t be ambitious. It means doing The Work out of a natural, unforced passion for The Work, and then not desiring credit or glory for achieving The Work.
See also the companion video lecture on ziran 自然:
youtu.be/EvXSuKYA_Gg
![Occult Content Creators, Negativity, Community: Joey and Bell Chat [Part 2]](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xz2JolFQxiE/hqdefault.jpg "Occult Content Creators, Negativity, Community: Joey and Bell Chat [Part 2]
What do occult content creators do when they’re in quarantine? We get online and chat with each other by video, of course. This is Part 2 of a conversation that I had with Celtic priestess, creatrix, and daughter of The Morrigan, Joey Morris.
If you haven’t seen Part 1 yet, then you’re going to want to hop over to her channel to watch that first.
Watch Part 1 on Joey’s channel at: https://youtu.be/WuVB69Pwpa0
Joey Morris: https://www.youtube.com/user/starryeyedlillady
TIMESTAMPS
00:21 Backlash when an occultist shares their personal gnosis with the public; The irony of telling others their experience with deity is “wrong” (sharing a Chinese cultural standpoint)
02:54 Joey adding to that rationale by sharing about the spread and evolution of Celtic beliefs
05:51 The irony of marginalized witches looking at history, which is written by those who suppress them, to verify their own modern practices
06:60 Balancing history of religious practice with how those practices and beliefs evolve
07:30 Why occult content creators aren’t sharing videos about their personal experiences with spirit
10:15 Joey sharing the emotional toll of putting out raw, vulnerable content and getting trolled for it; the fallacy of assuming your negative comment doesn’t bother popular content creators; why Benebell doesn’t like it when people say you just need to grow thicker skin
16:48 The spiritual ramifications of occult content creators dealing with negativity online
19:20 Fallacy of the “shared personal gnosis”
21:15 The entanglement between “shared personal gnosis” and savvy branding/marketing; the occultists who become prominent and those who don’t gain popular traction all reduce down to branding and marketing; when content creators go “off brand”
22:40 The branding and marketing that mold public perception of what witchcraft is; witchcraft aesthetics
24:57 The internally generated tension between “dark” witchcraft and “light” witchcraft (using those as terms of convenience only); arguments of morality, good vs. evil in the witchcraft community
26:01 The “real witch” argument; community shaming of pagans and witches who charge money; Bell’s observation that those judgments are very Christian influenced and are not as prevalent in cultures where Abrahamic morality doesn’t dominate
28:01 The irony of witches rejecting any physical trace of Christian belief in witchcraft but judge each other with Christian ideologies
29:38 When witch wars happen and their negativity cycles
31:00 All the great occult content creators leaving YouTube
34:59 Self-censorship and filtering driven by the fear element of not wanting to invite negativity, resulting in less creativity; when people downplay the emotional harm of trolling and ask content creators, “Why do you care so much about what people think of you?”
38:55 Acknowledging the power other people may have over you is not weakness; how the current covid-19 pandemic shows that; contrasting that with the self-fulfilling prophecy of where we believe power resides is where power resides")
