Zhuangzi and Nature Heal the Existential Crisis Existential Crisis: Anxiety, Loneliness, Meaninglessness, Freedom and Responsibility, Death

Zhuangzi and nature (a small park) tell us:

I. Existence Itself

Is the beginning and the ultimate (meaning). People exist, yet they often feel unable to sense the existence of the self, because they are frequently caught up in distracting thoughts rather than mindfully attending to their own existence.

II. Dependent Origination and Emptiness

The universe and all things are changing, yet the ego tries to be omniscient and omnipotent, to understand and control.

III. The Unity of Humanity and Nature

People are connected to the universe and are part of it. The universe gives birth to, nourishes, allows, and embraces human existence. People are also connected to one another, rather than opposed to one another; it is just that human society is at an early stage of civilization, marked by alienation and antagonism (Marx, Engels, Lenin).

IV. Unconditionality

Everyone can exist unconditionally. Conditional love, self-confidence, and so on are one source of suffering. There is no such thing as perfection; the universe and all things are unconditionally perfect. Nature allows all kinds of “abnormality” and allows everything to happen.

V. No Distinction in Worth

All things are equal: they differ, but there is no distinction in their worth. High and low, strong and weak, beautiful and ugly arise from the ego’s narrow perspective.

VI. No Thoughts, No Affairs, No Attachments

Apart from humans, all things—flying birds and swimming fish—have no thoughts, no affairs, no attachments. Does the brain bring people benefits or harm? The universe has given us brains, but we do not know how to use and care for them. Just as horses are too agitated to recover from leg injuries, and pandas are so picky about food that they face extinction. Nurturing life is a field of study.

VII. Death

Vital energy (atoms) gives rise to all things, which then return to vital energy. Death is part of the universe, and specifically part of organic matter and life; death cannot even be spoken of in relation to inorganic matter.

VIII. The Complexity of the Universe, Human Limits, Freedom, and Responsibility:

People fear responsibility, but the universe is complex, human life is limited, and we are often without freedom. Even when we want to attribute responsibility (causes or credit) to ourselves, we cannot. Emperors are slaves to history. A gardener cannot claim all the credit for a garden full of spring beauty. Emperor Wen of Han could not take personal credit for the Rule of Wen and Jing. Someone who thought that way could not have become Emperor Wen of Han—not because they would have governed poorly, but because someone with such thoughts would have had difficulty surviving the Lü Clan Disturbance.

Yet people are not entirely without freedom; otherwise, they would not suffer from being unfree. Let us provisionally define the first stage of freedom as the absence of the suffering of unfreedom, non-non-free, like swimming fish, flying birds, butterflies, flowers, and trees, which do not depend on too many external things or too much space.

Plants cannot move and are often “held down” by soil, rocks, and shadows. They adapt, yet remain resolute, following the cracks in rocks and growing resolutely. Adapting to external laws and following their inner instinct to survive is itself a form of “not yielding.” Obstacles are not enough to obstruct the evolution of life. Roots twist and intertwine with strength, branches spread freely, and leaves and flowers stretch out exuberantly. They have not withered and died because of obstacles.