Being Spontaneous in the Taoist sense is different to the meaning we give it in English.
Spontaneity is one of the main concepts in Chuang Tzu. Chuang Tzu and the Taodejing are the two major foundation works of Taoist philosophy. Chuang Tzu is attributed to Chuang Tzu (born circa 369 B.C) and his work simply bears his name.
Spontaneity is regarded in Taoism being as important as love and compassion.
Chuang Tzu holds that while the rest of the world, the animals, birds and fish and all the creatures of the world, including Nature itself, go with the natural flow of The Tao, mankind has stopped itself from doing this by over-thinking.
Chuang Tzu observes that we cut ourselves off from The Tao when we premeditate everything and are not spontaneous.
Being spontaneous in the Taoist sense does not have the same meaning as in English, where is can imply wilfulness and doing things without regard for the consequences.
When you do things spontaneously in the Taoist sense, you do them mindfully and are often aware of what the outcome will be.
Being spontaneous means doing things mindfully with flow.
The reason why spontaneity is so important, is that in order to be spontaneous, we have to let go. When we can allow ourselves to let go, we have a natural open state of mind, that is guided and moves from an inner source of awareness.
When we can let go, its easier for us to tune into our horse and see what he needs from us and minutely adjust it, moment by moment as we go along.
Our horse will become more engaged with us when we respond to him like this and a two way communication can open up between us.
When we can let go of the need to control, it gives us a feeling of freedom and relief inside, because we can’t control everything anyway. We just don’t know what’s going to happen down the line.
Being spontaneous allows us to see life as a whole, not only see the things that are specific to us. There are greater elements and forces at play which we may only be part of.
Maybe you’re reading this and you’re thinking you’re already spontaneous with your horse, or have felt like that? I hope this will help you see it as a concept in the Taoist sense, where too much premeditation destroys spontaneity, and with it, the quality that makes some things that are so important to us, live.
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