The notion of having sympathy or being sympathetic in Taoist philosophy develops from a deep understanding of the “relationship” between subject and object. Rather than being sympathetic towards some one thing, an object, Taoist sympathy arises from the lack of differentiation between subject and object, and thus allows individuals to acknowledge all things standing in the same unifying light: the light of the Tao.
Sympathy as Unification
The function and role of sympathy is to identify all objects as a unified a whole. It is to destroy all notions of subject and object, or of the person knowing and the object being known. Therefore, being able to dissolve the distinction between subject and object is something to be achieved and the achievement that admits of the deepest notion of sympathy. Paradoxically, though, unification is manifested as an act of sympathy.
Being able to understand that no real distinction exists between subject and object is also known as the realm of non-being, or the Tao. The term non-being should not be thought of as non-existing, as it initially connotes. Rather, non-being merely seeks to represent the fact that the understanding which allows the negation of subject-to-object is impossible to know absolutely. Knowing Tao and the realm of non-being is intuitive, and escapes concrete conceptualization, thus receiving the term non-being, or non-entity. No one term, name, or appellation can concretely embody the full extent of the knowledge from which sympathy arises, and so it is deemed to be the Tao, non-being, or the un-nameable source of all things.
Attainment of Sympathy and Knowing Non-Being
Because knowledge of non-being is intuitive, a directed or intentional act of trying to force coalescence between oneself and another object is not how one should act. The moment any individual says “I am this and that is that, we must become one”, distinction, and otherness have already been employed and deemed something to transcend. The effort to unify inhibits unification. One must merely act without the notions of subject and object already disposed.
Taoism stresses two important themes that have already been hinted at: intuitive knowledge and quiescence.
Intuitive knowledge should be understood in the typical sense of knowledge that is “self evident” which gains its credibility from intuition. But more importantly it should be understood as knowledge that does not require years of studies with sacred texts, or any text for that matter. The intuitive knowledge Taoists speak of is inherent in all individuals at all times.
Quiescence is “letting go”, being quiet, and submission, but in a strictly positive sense. One should let go of a busy intellect that searches for truth because the truth is here, there, everywhere, and found within everything. No one object contains more truth than another. Therefore, being of a silent mind opens oneself to the simple yet seemingly difficult truth of all things being of the same one thing: the Tao.
Through quiet, silent, and non-directed contemplation one becomes surrounded by non-being. One is opened up to an unspeakable truth in which “this and that”, “it and me”, and “light and dark” carry no weight. These distinctions arise only from the mind of man, but have no ontological precedence. Only the experience of unification of multiplicities, which is nothing more than Taoist sympathy, has ontological precedence. With this conception of sympathy at hand all objects are treated as equals.
Reference
Chung-Yuan, Chang, Creativity and Taoism: A Study of Chinese Philosophy, Art, and Poetry. (Harper & Row: New York: 1963) Concentration should be made on chapter 1: Invisible Ground of Sympathy.
