I've recently stumbled onto Taoism by way of trying to learn to meditate and learning about Internal Family Systems therapy. For those not familiar, IFS provides a method of interacting with our traumas and burdens (parts) as though they were agents and "unburdening" them. Much of the interaction with parts reminded me of stage 4 of the book The Mind Illuminated, where strong emotions sometimes appear spontaneously during meditation. It occurred to me that meditation is probably providing a space where therapy for past trauma can happen, kind of accidentally; whereas parts work goes and seeks out these feelings intentionally.
That was interesting, but the connection with this community comes in the next phase. Once your trauma is unburdened, or once you make it on to the higher stages of meditation, your desires and "self" are said to disappear. You still need food and water, of course, but you would be just as content in a simple dwelling as in a penthouse. This reminded me strongly of Taoism.
My question to the community is this:
What do you see as the connections between Taoism, mental health, and other forms of mediation? What can these subjects learn from each other?
Most of us seek distraction, to run from our demons. The stillness and observation, then mindfulness of any meditation allows space to welcome our demons as teachers and friends. We can ask whence they came, what they desire of us, thank them, and consciously accept or reject the answers. We can amend or change those decisions later.
Tl;Dr in the silence of tao, we learn who we are.
So the Tao says, "be still, be silent, and the answers will come.", and meditation/therapy help us achieve that silence, if our minds have become too noisy to hear the answers? I like that.
Meditation is the space between the notes of therapy maybe, that creates a melody. Sometimes harmonious, sometimes discordant. The melody, in time, may become a movement, then symphony. Or become something we discard. You're the maestro. Sometimes others want to write our symphonies, or many are playing in proximity. That's noise.
But I'm just some rando on the internet, and tired besides. That's my current unrefined melody, in this movement. I may refine or discard in another moment.
Have you read Zhuang Zhou?
I started Zhuang Zhou, but found that a confusing place to begin, so I got The Tao is Silent and the Ursula LeGuin translation of the Tao Te Ching, and I'm working my way through those.