07/10/2025
Food for Thought…
We humans are tribal In nature… we function best In an environment with shared values working toward a common goal…
When this doesn’t exist… the result Is separation… disharmony…
There is a Saying that I have found Is true… “If there Is no us…there Is no point…”
From a Daoist perspective… the phrase “If there is no us… there is no point” touches on the tension between unity and separateness, which Daoism explores deeply…
Here are a few ways to interpret it through Daoist ideas…
Interbeing and the Dao
In Daoism, everything arises within the flow of the Dao… the unnameable source from which all pairs (yin–yang, self–other, life–death) emerge…
The idea of “no us” suggests separation, disconnection, or an assertion of the isolated self…
For Daoism, this separation is somewhat illusory…
Nothing exists alone… every being participates in the web of relationship that is the Dao…
So, “there is no point” could be seen as an intuitive recognition that meaning arises through relationship… we are fulfilled only when we are attuned to the greater whole…
Balance of Yin and Yang
In relationships, Daoism emphasizes harmony, balance, and complementarity rather than possessiveness or fusion…
“If there is no us” might reflect an imbalance… too much individuation or conflict … while “no point” describes a loss of equilibrium…
A Daoist would likely caution against clinging to either extreme… total fusion (loss of self) or total isolation (loss of connection)…
The Daoist way is to let the dynamic flow between self and other unfold naturally… neither forcing unity nor separation…
Wu Wei (Non-forcing)…
From this lens, one might reframe the sentiment… rather than needing “us” to feel meaning, Daoism invites us to move with what is…
If the connection exists, nurture it with ease; if it doesn’t, allow it to pass…
Don’t fight it or resist it… let It happen with no second Intentions…
The point (the Dao) remains in the natural unfolding, not in grasping for particular forms of relationship… romantic, friendship, business, or societal…
Put simply, a Daoist might say…
Meaning isn’t lost when “we” dissolve… only if we resist the flow of what is…
Harmony resides not in preserving “us” as a fixed form, but in attuning to the movement of the Dao within and between us…
How do you handle the separate me and the unified us In relationships?
All the Best!
H Perry Curtis, Master at Pampamisayoc Qigong