Hello, everyone! I’d like to introduce myself and also ask how you all started your Taoist journey.
I’m a college student studying Communication, so I have a natural curiosity as a student and a young person to learn about new languages, religions, and philosophies! I found out about Taoism because I wanted to create a new online community based on my favorite dreamy, psychedelic music. I came up with a theme of a dojo where musicians and fans could come and grow their skills. When researching about dojos, I came across resources about Taoism and Zen, and it really resonated with me!
All my life, I’ve felt so connected to nature and the universe, so the concept of the Tao, duality, and meditating instantly made sense to me. Now, I’m halfway through reading the Tao Te Ching!
How did you discover Taoism? Let me know!
I’d encountered the concept before but not when I was ready to hear it. I think the first hint of taking it seriously was when I visited 龙虎山 and spent almost two days in a 正一教 temple. There was something about the demeanour and behaviour of the people inhabiting the temple (both lay and clerical) that made me get interested and in the years since I’ve been more and more open to the ideas I find in the literature as I stumble over it and decode it.
The most important of these texts is, naturally this:
However something that clarified a few concepts that the very dense text of 老子 kept plaguing me with was this: