(Outside Reading #5) Religion: Taoism

For our outside reading we were supposed to find an article about a religion/spirituality and I chose to research Taoism. Taoism refers to a power which envelops, surrounds, and flows through all things in life, living and non-living. The tao also is known to balance the universe. The founder of Taoism is believed to be a contemporary of Confucius named Lao-Tse. The way Taoism started is his want to avoid the constant feudal warfare and other conflicts that disrupted society during his lifetime. Before it was a religion, Taoism was a combination of psychology and philosophy. After time, Taoism became one of the three main religions in china. Taoism was destroyed after the end of the Ch'ing dynasty in 1911. Today 20 million followers still believe in Taoism and follow it's cultural beliefs. I think this was an interesting religion because I've never actually heard of it. I think it would have been fun to learn more about this religion in history class along with the unit of confucianism and see the difference between the two. The article also said that about 30,000 taoists live in North America so hopefully one day I will be able to meet one!

Robinson, B.A. "Taoism." Religious Tolerance Inc. 29 February 2008 <http://www.religioustolerance.org/taoism.htm>. 15 February 2009.