Wu wei is a concept literally meaning non-action or non-doing. Wu wei emerged in the Spring and Autumn period to become an important concept in both Taoism and Chinese statecraft.
In the Tao Te Ching, Lao Tzu explains that beings (or phenomena) that are wholly in harmony with the Tao behave in a completely natural, uncontrived way. The goal of spiritual practice for the human being is, according to Lao Tzu, the attainment of this purely natural way of behaving, as when the planets revolve around the sun. The planets effortlessly do this revolving without any sort of control, force, or attempt to revolve themselves, thus engaging in effortless and spontaneous movement.[dubious – discuss][citation needed]
Sinologist Herrlee Creel considered Wu wei a distinguishing factor between the more "purposive" religious Taoism of governmental Huang-Lao, emphasizing a striving for immortality, and the philosophical Taoism of the Zhuangzi, which emphasizes Wu wei in the sense of not striving, often considering the search for immortality secondary, laughable, or harmful.[1]
I was out in my backyard reading a book on Taoism last night and I got to thinking if Wu-Wei actually made any sense in reality. In theory I like the idea of spontaneous action, non-doing, acting in a non-contrived way, and yet I'm not convinced that this idea actually makes any sense in practice. A few things:
1) Isn't 'non-doing' itself a form of doing, and in itself contrived?
2) What would the difference be between spontaneous and non-spontaneous action? And if we always want to act spontaneously, what does that mean for when we need to concertedly plan?
3) Given the above, in what ways is Wu-Wei actually a useful idea?