Effortless Living tries to redefine the essence of Lao Tsu's book, Tao de Ching, stripping it of layers others have put on it over the years.

WHO WOULD ENJOY READING IT?
People interested and invested in Tao de Ching and its principles would love this book.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT
There is a whiff of commercialism and religion about Tao de Ching and Taoist principles in general in today's world. The author goes to a great length removing Tao de Ching from self-help, martial art, and religious strappings to communicate its timeless message about the world, the human self, and the ridiculousness of prescribing rules for people to follow in the bid to live a fulfilled life.

MEMORABLE PASSAGE

Common misconceptions are built around language, especially among those who are spiritually inclined. The way people associate their understanding with certain words, such as consciousness, mind, awareness, perception, ego, self, truth, and God, all cause much confusion, because each word has the ability to change its meaning in correspondence to the growth of the individual. This confusion occurs even among people of the same language. On top of this, there is an immense amount of misinterpretation that is lost in translation from one language to another. In any event, language itself, no matter what dialect, is an inadequate tool for describing the nature of the universe.


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Effortless Living: Wu-Wei and the Spontaneous State of Natural Harmony by Jason Gregory is available to buy on all major online bookstores.

Many thanks to Inner Traditions for review copy.

The concept of the book is wonderful, yet I felt as if though I was reading a textbook. Too difficult for me to understand, couldn't finish it.

I found this pretty heavy going. The author is obviously very knowledgeable but it was very academic in tone and I found it quite hard to follow. I suspect someone with a greater existing knowledge of the subject area would get a lot more from it than I did.

Very interesting reading about the Chinese culture and their believes in many ways, can help you achieve a more enjoyable and better life. It did feel a bit "glorifying" in the way that it kept referencing back words and meaning in Chinese (mandarin?) but overall it was an informative book that defiantly has some good ideas and i am sure can help the right person for this book find a more effortless live.

I am a huge fan of Wu-wei, it is one of my favorite aspects of Taoist studies. However, reading this book was not effortless, I found reading it to be a bit of a slog and I honestly cannot put my finger on why. It is filled with philosophy I enjoy but presented in a way that just did not keep my attention. Definitely a case of like what is written but not necessarily how.

The Taoism of Lao-Tzu compared to Confucianesimus and the way it can help us to live a better life in this world without effort and doing nothing. Yoga and meditations are also used to sustain Wu-Wei (the art of effortless living) that will permit harmony to win in the world. Interesting but pretty far from our actual culture of grit.

Il taoismo di Lao-tzu paragonato al confucianesimo e il modo in cui ci potrebbe permettere di vivere meglio in questo mondo facendo il minimo sforzo. Attraverso anche lo yoga e la meditazione tutto é teso all'ottenimento ed al mantenimento del Wu-Wei (l'arte di vivere senza sforzo) in modo che nel mondo trionfi l'armonia. Interessante, ma un po' lontano dalla cultura attuale tutta tesa ad ottenere il piú possibile.

THANKS TO NETGALLEY FOR THE PREVIEW!