14)
By eliminating from one's experience what is inessential, one is left with what is essential--that is, the Principle, or Way, or Tao. Implicit in that modality of experience is a return to, perhaps a oneness with, nature; reference is often made to the simplicity of newborns in that regard. When nonessential elements of experience are withdrawn nothing remains between the sentient being and the cosmos, which entails the natural world. In that cosmos, there is a presumption of balance. In the usual universe of human experience, however, balance is upset. Thus "all emotion injures nature" (Lao-Tzu, p. 92). For nature to be honored, elements of force, emotion, and even wisdom, such as a commentary on nature, must fall in humility before it. Only then is a balance or complementarity of yin and yang achieved. That nature is involved in these ideas can be seen in the fact that yin and yang originally were conceptualized as the shady and sunny sides of a mountain, a meaning which gives a good idea of the relativity of the two concepts. . . . The interplay of yin and yang, the primordial pair of opposites, appears thus as the principle that guides all the movements of the Tao" (Capra, 1976, pp. 96-98).
Confucianism owes a good deal to Taoism and adopts in whole many of its tenets and terms. However, Confucius' emphasis was more materialist in orientation. That is why Tao as used in the Analects is said to mean "one thing only, the Way of the ancients as it could be reconstructed from the stories told about the founders of the Chou [Zhou] dynasty" (Pelikan, 1992, p. 31). Why that is important can be seen in the fact that Confucius looked to that dynasty, which flourished until approximately the time Confucius was born (late 6th century BCE), as an ideal model of society. Confucius' orientation was toward the practical and civic rather than purely religious or worshipful. Even so, Confucian virtues are key to its system...