“Think of the sequence in Forrest Gump in which a feather floats effortlessly above the varied landscape of the city and lands in precisely the right spot. Think of Peter Sellers as Chauncey Gardiner in Being There doing absolute nothing…and capturing the attention of the most powerful people in the country.”
This is how Brandon Toropov and Chad Hansen introduce the Taoist notion of wu-wei in The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Taoism.
The notion of wu-wei is a challenging one for us in the West. It’s often translated as “nonaction” or “nondoing”—words that don’t work very well in our culture. We’re so used to notions of working, struggling, and acting that the idea of not doing those things makes us uneasy.
From a young age, we’re told that if we want to get anywhere we need to have goals, work hard to attain those goals, and keep fighting for success no matter what. We’re urged to stop ruminating, get off out butts, and do something. We’re weaned on sayings like:
- Act! Action will delineate and define you. – Thomas Jefferson
- Action is the foundational key to all success. – Pablo Picasso.
- If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. – Dale Carnegie
It seems obvious that action and doing are what gets us places. Without them, we can’t achieve, learn, or progress. So why would Taoism advocate such a thing as “nonaction” or “nondoing”?
For me the answer comes during those times when doing doesn’t accomplish anything. When there is nothing I can do about something. When the only thing I can do is—be.
I’m in one of those spaces right now. I have a novel written. I’m proud of it. Editors tell me it’s great. My agent loves it. And it’s being read by a variety of publishers. But, while I wait for publishers to respond, there is nothing I can do. I can’t hurry the process. I can’t make publishers come to a decision. I can’t force them to love my novel. I can’t will my book into publication. What I can do is practice wu-wei.
Wu-wei has been described by the Interfaith Center of New York as “the practice of going against the stream…by standing still and letting the stream do all the work.” It isn’t a matter of not working, but of working without struggle, grasping, and expectations.
Wu wei means:
- Working with calm awareness.
- Acting in a way that goes with the flow of events.
- Being mindful of the moment instead of constantly focusing on outcomes, goals, and hopes.
- Allowing things to happen that are going to happen.
- Letting go of the false notion that we can control everything.
The notion of wu-wei—or my interpretation of it—has been enormously freeing. I used to react to set-backs and delays with frustration and impatience. When something didn’t go the way I wanted, I’d immediately start to plan and scheme, trying to figure out ways to change things. I bought into the notion that we can make anything happen that we want, if we just keep trying.
Now, I see all that planning and struggle as a lot of thrashing around—a great deal of energy wasted. These days, I do what I can do—write as well as I can, submit my work, continue to learn and expand my skills—and, when that part is done, I relax into the flow of things.
Once I’ve sent my work out, I go to the practice of wu-wei. I think of the stream of events flowing around me, and accept the fact that what will happen will happen. I focus my attention on my current work and the moment I am living right now, and not what I hope or expect to happen tomorrow or next year.
For me, wu-wei is knowing that all I can do is put my work into the world. The rest is up to the Universe.
Wonderful post. The whole concept of wu-wei, or no-mind, has been so helpful to me over the years. Some of my finest writing has come from that place of no-thought. One writer referred it as “Vast emptiness, vastly full.” That’s how it feels when I’m “there.”
Thanks, Deborah. I agree about wu-wei. And I like “no-mind” better than “nonaction” or “nondoing,” so thanks for that, as well.
First off thanks for following me on Twitter because it led me to your wonderful post! I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m working on just putting things out into the Universe. I find that the more we struggle against something the less chance we have of getting the outcome we want. Very insightful blog post!
I’m so glad you found this post helpful, Tracey. I love the way you put it: “the more we struggle against something the less chance we have of getting the outcome we want.” So true!
Even though the literal translation of wu wei is ‘doing nothing’, a more accurate “translation” (as it is a concept almost impossible to translate and completely understand) is ‘consciously not doing’.
I found it one of the most enlightening concepts I’ve come across. I first heard about it during a Chinese Philosophy class and the ‘consciously not doing’ translation was presented by the teacher. At first I found it quite a strange concept, but a couple of years later (yes, years after the class itself) I found myself thinking and studying it again out of my own interest.
I think you can partly equate it with Patience. Sometimes you need to wait and be patient for something to happen, instead of wanting it NOW-NOW-NOW. The best visualization is still the image of a river flowing down into sea. You can build dams and dykes and whatever to control it, but the river will still flow towards the sea in the end. This false belief in control can be very damaging and it’s best to learn to let go of it and practice this wu wei.
Oh, I forgot to say *why* ‘consciously not doing’ is a more accurate (working) translation:
As you say in your post, our culture is very much focused on ACTION. The opposite of action would usually be LAZINESS/INACTION. While wuwei literally means ‘not doing’, it is not the lazy person’s way of approaching life. Far from it. It is the smart person’s way of life. This person knows what they control and what it is they can’t change. They ‘consciously’ make the decision to opt for INACTION as true ACTION would not help to reach the goal any quicker or easier. Therefore, ‘consciously not doing’ is a better (working) translation if you ever want to explain this to someone.
Thank you for sharing your knowledge on this, Corianne. It’s been very enlightening!