The only cosmos is the inner cosmos in my eyes. Thanks to meditation I'm finding that everything is self, while amazingly breaking the entire concept of self. So while that's quite buddhist, it's shared by the idea of the taoist sage as having the universe at his heart rather than being at the heart of the universe. So if I use that understanding when picking a taoist ritual.

Let's take bowing and burning incense. Very simply ritual, but very beneficial if you're a meditator and you meditate throughout life. We engulf our minds in whatever we might need, and use the motion asif it's the universe in conversation with us. As I hold my hands together, I feel the inner mind reminding me of potentiality, the uncarved block - similarly the position of my hands is like the sword or axe position used by children without toys indicating that I, myself am a cutting in the wood, appearing to now be separate from the complete, but soon - will be soil again once I decompose (die and rot). The bow may then indicate that all life is in a state of change, that each thing also bows to all other things and all other things bow back. I may feel that I am bringing my upper dantian in line with my middle dantian, symbolising bringing heaven to earth, or if I go lower -taking the heaven energy all the way down (to places that man distains).

Once the lighting of insense is complete, and my bow is complete. Others might have seen me and thought 'pointless, what the hell is that for? he's hoping the incense is magically gonna clear all the new age super energy around the place!'. But of course, they don't know ritual as a meditator. For me I may have gone on a lesson, learnt something in that moment that could change my inner cosmos for the day and make me much better at communication, humbleness, consideration, love, compassion knowing that others have equal potential as me and as the great tao itself.


first line: Read Above. Though clearly I'm not a Taoist except maybe Philosophical Taoist if I push it - I think I have a good grasp on the way of the ancient meditators (to distinguish from 'way of the new-age meditator' as a theraputing lifestyle purely designed to counsel and aid in recovery of sorts).

second line: In my understanding discipline is the maintaining of good virtues even when good results aren't apparent.

third line: Agreed. Though I don't think it was an act of deliberate desire to use a beautiful thing to gain position. I think human beings have an addiction to entertainment and would rather be entertained by philosophies, rituals, disciplines - rather than know the sage's position. Great Odin shows this, when hanging from Yggdrasil - starving himself until the tree of life gave up it's knowledge, which is a metaphor for taking a hard route to a spiritual understanding to make sure you don't forget what you're searching for and end up distracted by how entertaining it all is.