Weaving Wu-Wei

Riding the currents of connection

The world is in a tender place right now. We face an increasing number of inter-related crises and we are consistently challenged in being able to address them, often distracting ourselves with our need to dominate others and be right. If we are to solve the problems we face in the world today, we have to start by understanding what it means to be alive through exploring our connections to the world we find ourselves in; and through that understanding, further the process of bringing everyone together.

Weaving

Fostering connectivity starts with participation and inclusion. We are so conditioned towards  either/or thinking, which works in the narrow context of navigation, but  also leads us to pit ourselves against each other, rather than see the ways we might complement each other. This type of Us vs Them, a typical example of either/or thinking, happens at many levels. Currently we are seeing it very blatantly in federal politics; we also see it happening at the local level, in community groups such as non-profits. These groups have group ideals, but either/or thinking often leads to a focus on competing for things like grant funding, instead of on sharing pertinent information by making honest connections. Finding common ground is essential here. While we will always have differences in our approaches and our views, that doesn’t mean we need to fight each other. We can learn to disagree respectfully while still being able to move forward together to support our mutual interests. We all want the same basic things: to live comfortably, support our families, to see peace in the world instead of war, etc. By focusing on our relationships we can make progress together with less conflict.

In 2022 I finished my Ecopsychology master’s degree at Naropa with my thesis Radical Reorganization, exploring how we can participate in a shift in our social systems towards a more regenerative and relational paradigm. In 2023 I ran for city council in Boulder on a platform of regeneration and collaboration, and focused on building meaningful relationships while also cultivating a deeper understanding of where we still get caught up creating unnecessary divisions in politics, which I explored in my essay Schismogenesis in Local Politics. In 2024, I’ve been focusing on building up the Woven Web non-profit where we’ve been working to cultivate greater coherence and foster more collaboration within our local community here in Boulder; highlighted by helping steward a 10 day event called [CO]here that engaged over 10 organizational partners and over 200 participants interested in weaving a more resilient community here in Boulder.

What I’ve learned from all of this is that as human beings, we have a natural inclination to help and to cooperate. But we also have a deeply conditioned urge to divide ourselves and create an external other to be in conflict with, driven by a very basic survival instinct that has evolved over centuries of needing to have a group we can be part of to keep us safe and fed. If we are going to survive and thrive, not just within our smaller groups but as a whole, we have to include. As humans we are a whole thing and also a part of something else; a part of humanity as a whole, a part of life on Earth, and a part of the Universe. This may seem complex, and in some ways it is, but it is also fairly simple if we look to understand what it means to be alive. In this essay I am going to discuss this, starting with some concepts that come from the East.

Wu Wei

“Wu-wei is thus the life-style of one who follows the Tao, and must be understood primarily as a form of intelligence – that is, of knowing the principles, structures, and trends of human and natural affairs so well that one uses the least amount of energy in dealing with them.”

In Tao: The Watercourse Way (1975), from which the above quote is excerpted, Alan Watts explores this concept of wu-wei, translating it as “not forcing”. While wu-wei is often translated as not doing, this can be easily misunderstood, because wu-wei is not about passivity, it is about understanding. Through understanding ourselves and the web that we find ourselves in, we are able to act and move in the world without exerting unnecessary effort. My dad Joe introduced me to this idea of “unforced” which he undoubtedly discovered through his studies of taoist philosophy, his training in the practice of tai chi chuan, and his deep study of himself and the world around him.

Tai chi is one practice that incorporates a wu-wei philosophy; it is a method of movement that emphasizes following natural patterns of movement, maintaining relaxation as one whole body-mind organism, and drawing power from chi (life force, breath, energy) as well as gravity. Another practice is aikido which is a martial art focused on self-defense that involves circular, flowing motions and blending with an attacker’s energy to redirect force rather than opposing it directly. Wu-wei practices are found not only in martial and movement arts however. Hakomi is a somatic psychotherapy modality that emphasizes working gently with a client without forcing change, centering around the principles of mindfulness, nonviolence, mind-body holism, organicity and unity. A Hakomi trainer, Mukara Meredith, has even applied these same principles to facilitating communication in groups through her MatrixWorks method.

Wu-wei is a concept that is not limited to any one particular domain. It can involve how we move our bodies, how we meet physical conflict, how we support one another and so much more. Fundamentally, wu-wei is about how we relate within this world we find ourselves in. And as such, it becomes a very intriguing philosophy for those of us who are interested in supporting the emergence of a more connected worldview.

Weaving Wu-Wei

So what is involved in applying wu-wei and these other similar concepts to our daily living, so that we can make more connections and address the crisis being created by these divisive tendencies? The world is complex, and this crisis is complex, but our approach to solving it doesn’t have to be. It involves looking to understand others rather than opposing them, and continually inquiring whether we are forcing what we think is right, or looking to restore the natural flow through bringing people together in an understanding of our shared belonging.

There is a crisis in the world regarding this need for connection. If we continue dividing as a way of creating our culture, we will keep heading towards more and more conflicts, which will inevitably hurt us and the world, potentially leading us to extinction. We can start doing something about this crisis by looking to understand ourselves more honestly. We can start asking honest questions like ‘why do I need to believe this?’ and ‘am i making these decisions honestly or am i just playing out the conditioning that has been passed down to me?’. If we can start to understand the distortions in ourselves, we will be able to resolve these distortions in our communities. From here we can address the greater communities of nations and the world as a whole with a better understanding of how we are in this together.

While it is tempting to isolate in order to focus on understanding, it is more likely to happen (and sooner) if we participate in what is, which is the greater world around us. We can’t hope to change society by sitting alone on a mountain top. We can roll up our sleeves and get involved in the world we want to change.

The concept of wu-wei is a tremendously effective way to remain involved and live well. It is action without force, and this is the most effective way to live within the flow of the entire web of life of which we are a vital part. Weaving wu-wei into our daily living will allow us to work together for a better world by fitting into the Nature that we are a part of.