All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

Wu Wei a Key Term. Daoist Talks (X) – Zettl Fine Arts

wu wei in Lu Zhi's painting

Wu Wei is a key concept in Daoism. It is an idea that originated in ancient Chinese philosophy and is of central importance to Daoism. However, the term is not always easy to understand, at least for Westerners. But understanding it can help us in many ways, not only in understanding Asian painting. (To make it easier to follow previous posts on this topic, I have indexed them on a new page Daoist Talks).

Wu Wei (無為) is a Chinese term that literally means “non-action” or “non-doing” or in my opinion better: effortless action. For a long time, the West has accused the Chinese of being lazy because of misinterpreting this term. Being lazy is, of course, not the case, quite the opposite. Therefore, Wu Wei is now more often translated as “effortless action” or “actionless action” and refers to the idea of acting without effort or compulsion. It is about being in harmony with the natural flow of things and allowing things to happen naturally, instead of trying to control or manipulate them. So, Wu Wei is not about doing nothing, but about doing things in a natural, spontaneous, and effortless way. It is about letting go of the ego and the need for control and instead trusting in the natural order of things…

Source: Wu Wei a Key Term. Daoist Talks (X) – Zettl Fine Arts

What is “Immunity Debt”? – Virology Down Under

Time or money, banking “Immunity debt” (also called the “immunity gap“) was a term published in the scientific literature in May 2021. In their paper, the authors suggested a rise in the number of people susceptible to, or able to be infected by, pathogens (viruses, bacteria and fungi) they’d avoided during the times when protective measures to intervene in and slow the spread of SARS-CoV-2 were in place. These interventions worked for all sorts of airborne-spread nasties. But what could drive the creation of a bigger pool of susceptible humans. Source: What is “Immunity Debt”? – Virology Down Under