Wu-wei in action: fighting without fighting
Regular readers of this blog will know that the title “The Way of Least Resistance” is actually just one possible translation of the concept in Daoist philosophy known as wu-wei (無為). Literally this phrase means “not doing”. This can make the title of this essay seem rather odd: how inaction be “in action”? Well, two recent videos I’ve seen illustrate my thinking better than any words I offer. Consider the first video below: In this video, Takanoyama Shuntaro (AKA: Pavel Bojar), a 200 lb Judo player from the Czech Republic, competes at the elite level in Sumo, demolishing much larger opponents. He does so as the very epitome of "wu-wei in action". In order to explain what I mean, let me back-track a bit: As I have previously explained, the expression wu-wei is not a literal injunction against action . Rather it is description of an ideal state “where nothing is done, yet everything is achieved”. One way of translating this maxim in...