Power for the Peaceful: A Course in Tao

Teaser 2 for Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion - How Religion Gets MadeFor his next podclass, Marc Mullinax teams up with Chandler Schroeder to bring you a series of podclasses, the first of which is called "How Religion Gets Made," premiering on July 1, 2025, on...a. YouTube - maybe preferred if you like strong visuals. To sign up, click “⁠⁠The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion⁠⁠“ or (⁠⁠https:www.youtube.com@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion⁠⁠)andb. Apple and Spotify podcast platforms. Just search for "The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion"Contact the show hosts at [email protected]

Tao is another way of living, of thinking, of walking, ofwondering. It’s not new, for It’s always been with us. It’s “another” Way. In this last verse of the 81 verses of Tao te Ching, Eli Thompson joins me to give this podcast a great send off. We end with a discussion about the eight teachings of Tao that make “Tao still speak” for us today. Be sure to sign up for my new podclasses! Chandler Schroeder and I are beginning a new set of podcasts, on religion and how it, or they, get made. Don’t miss the preview trailer or these shows! Stay in touch by pressing “Subscribe” at “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ where you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on how religions get made. (https://www.youtube.com/@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)

Verse 80 is so counter-intuitive and counter-cultural today. Why travel, when ALL one needs is where one already is. It’s called “home.” While we can be like turtles or snails carrying our home around with us everywhere, we should first consider that we do not need to travel frenetically, to be home. This is a most radical teaching for a culture always on the move, where staying at home seems a life of boredom, where our collective motto isStar Trek’s mission: ‘to explore strange new worlds; to seek out new life and new civilizations; to boldly go where no man has gone before!‘ We mention an article by Rebecca Solnit. Chandler Schroeder and I are beginning a new set of podcasts, on religion and how it, or they, get made. Don’t miss thepreview trailer or these shows! Stay in touch by pressing “Subscribe” at “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ where you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on how religions get made. (https://www.youtube.com/@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)

Verse 79 is TTC’s main place where Lao Tzu frames “score-keeping” with “faith-keeping”. So in this verse we look at the various ways we injure ourselves (and our futures) with strict accounting of alleged slights we see someone giving us. The resentments build until one of two things happen: A complete breakdown of communication, or, the moment when someone stops practicing keeping-score and instead practices keeping-faith. We’re almost finished with this podcast. But please, keep your podcast feed open, for bonus episodes, announcements, and for questions that come up from the class. My email is [email protected]. We have a new podclass about to begin: Chandler Schroeder and I are conspiring (which means to breathe together) on a new schedule of a series of related podcasts on religion, the ideas of religion, faith, and how the imagination fuels these. The pods we have begun to work on are based uponChandler’s career as a counselor, and my 30-year teaching career in New York City, Asheville, NC, and Seoul, Korea. We have already a YouTube channel called TheTechnicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ where you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on howreligions get made. (https:www.youtube.com@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)You can also keep this podcast feed - Power for the Peaceful - open, and you’ll get all the introductory updates.

Today’s episode was recorded outside in Fairview, NC, where the 17-year locusts are partying hard in the background. Verse 78 contains the third of only three instances of the word “water”. However, Water serves for Taoists through the centuries as THE single metaphor or model for Tao Itself. Act like water and you will live, refuse, get all brittle, and you’ll break upon the rocks. Water wears down mountains. Iterodes hard places, and makes the rough ways smooth. But especially, when acting like water, the tough become tender. Soft like water, they wear things away; and outlast every unnatural thing.Thanks to Teresa Aeschliman for her voice. The song Loveis the Water that Wears down the Rock is by Pat Wictor & Brother Sun, performed by Brian Graves, Jen Folkers, and Andy Barnett

Verse 77 this time. I call it ‘The Tao of Robin Hood,’ who was an equalizer of his (mythical) day, like Tao is all the time. In its yin-yang algorithm, ‘just enough’ is given to all, so no one lacks, and no one has more than enough. If another, ‘human tao’ interfereswith ‘Heaven’s Tao,’ then the yin-yang balance actually takes from those with too much, and gives to those with not enough.In this episode Marc confesses his love of Marx’s analytical power to understand big power issues (though he has no love for Marxism, or its actual practices in real time).We hear from lots of voices today: Thich Naht Hanh, The Buddha, Mick Jagger, Sun Tzu, and Herman Melville.

As we near the end of Tao te Ching’s 81 verses, we see Lao Tzu revisit some high themes we’ve seen before. Today’s verse 76treats how our grounding and rootage in the Way of Tao leads to a flexible, supple, resiliency, which leads to a longer or better life than one dedicated to grasping, getting hard-set and inflexible. In today’s podclass I provide some practices and ideas for living softly and nimbly, as well as reminder of those practices and ideas that we “can” practice that leads only hardening of life’s categories, to brittleness and dryness, leading perhaps to small deaths even before our final death.Here’s our Mantra: “Soft at the center, strongin the flow.”Reminder! Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am beginning a new series of podcasts called “TheTechnicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ to which you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on how religions get made. (https://www.youtube.com/@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)

Verse 75 recapitulates some themes we havealready seen in Tao Te Ching. Today we focus on how these themes are not Lao Tzu’s alone, but have wide and universal appreciation throughout the world’s spiritual traditions, philosophies, psychologies, and artistic endeavors. Thiswas so fun for me, and I hope you enjoy it, too. May your days begin with unclenched and empty hands, to become the sources for peace and hope in your world today.

As we near the end of Tao te Ching’s 81 verses, we see Lao Tzu revisit some high themes we’ve seen before. Today’s verse 74 treats how our prior grounding and rootage in Tao is ever and always stronger than culture’s siren calls to pay attention to the worthless, lifeless dreads and find  of thinking. We hear from Paul Coelho, Abraham Lincoln, Cornel West, and the book of Ecclesiastes. Reminder! Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am beginning a new series of podcasts called “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ to which you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on how religions get made. (https://www.youtube.com/@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)

Verse 73 has a unique take and message for us looking for patterns in the universe to support our penchants for assigning “good” and “bad”, or “right” and “wrong” in advance as the universe unfolds around us.Instead, this verse might tempt us to flirt with becoming a student of the “Great Maybe” – a life where we let others make distinctions where there are none, while we return to the original uncarved block of existence where we find ourselvesoriginally defined by eternal Tao, and not by some temporary culture. We talk about theodicy, or the tendencies we have to offer predigested answers about why seemingly bad things happen. Reminder!Along with Chandler Schroeder, I am beginning a new series of podcasts called “The Technicolor Dreamcoat of Religion“ to which you can subscribe now for updates and our first semester of classes on how religions get made. (https://www.youtube.com/@TechnicolorDreamcoatofReligion)