Tao is a word that had to be adopted by the English language because the concept it represents is foreign to our western thinking and antithetical to the religions we chose to embrace. This is the concept of everything in the world being alive and connected. Humans, plants, trees, rocks, water, all alive and mutually dependent as parts of an all encompassing and intelligent whole. In this way of thinking, nature is not, as the Bible would suggest, something to be made subservient to humans but rather the mother from which we were born and the teacher to show us the way forward. We live in a culture that sees nature as full of things that need to be reduced to their smallest components in order to understand how they work and what they are made of so that we can make use of these parts to create the world we desire. There are, of course, scientists involved in the study of ecosystems and how all the parts are connected and interdependent but this knowledge is marginalized because it is not about making nature subservient and even suggests that to do so would not be in our best interest.
Robin Kimmerer is a scientist and Native American and poet who has given us, by sharing her own journey, a way to begin to understand what we have lost by objectifying the natural world and ignoring our connection and dependence upon this world. She has been gifted with a wonderful way with words and language that allows us to both understand and be emotionally connected to the ideas and stories that she shares with us. Her existence is proof positive that the Tao is not only intelligent but actually cares about us.
What she speaks of is what we need to hear in the West on the Wheel. It is here that we are searching for an understanding of how it all works as a way of coming to the realization that we are a piece of the whole and what happens is simply a manifestation of how we are connected to everything around us. To realize we are this everything and the separateness was just an illusion after all. I would recommend the audible version of this book because it is read by the author which allows us to connect to the energy that is her on a more profound level. Either way, this book needs to be experienced and passed on to other fellow climbers who are hopefully in some way in your life.
