~CATHOLICISM -VS- TAOISM~

1 - Introduction

The major purpose of this assignment is to describe the differences and similarities regarding the view of the God (i.e. the phenomena or concept on which the religion is founded) between Catholic Christendom and Taoism. The secondary aim of this assignment is to analyze, evaluate, compare and contrast the effects these two religions have on actors in the micro and the macro level (i.e. how behavior is induced). A reasonable number (with regards to the extent and depth of the assignment) of system analysis concepts will be used to clarify the character of the two religions. Furthermore, the two religions shall be put in relation to the philosophical arguments for the existence of God (including philosophers Kant and Spinoza). The disposition of the assignment is divided into three parts: Catholicism, Taoism and analysis. In the first two sections, the contents of the systems are first described, then they are evaluated with respect to different criticisms that has been raised against them, and system analysis concepts. In the analysis section the two systems are compared, then a general conclusion is drawn from the contents of the assignment.

~SECTION ONE~

2 - Catholicism

Catholic Christians view their God as an actual, present, and conscious being. God is generally referred to as a "He", or more commonly as the "Father", this assumes that God is of male gender. He is also the Son and the Holy Spirit, this "three in one" state is known as the Holy Trinity. It is by this Holy Trinity that Christianity remains monotheistic even though the Christian God is divided into three separate concepts.

The Catholic view of God is partly related to the First Cause argument; in the sense that God has always existed and is the creator of all that is. God thus gave rise to everything in existence, hence the Design argument is also present. The Catholic God is all-powerful, all-knowing, wise, forgiving, loving, and perfect in every way. Humanity is the foremost creation in God's universe, and it lies in humanity's purpose to serve and follow God.

God is said to have sent a son, Jesus Christ, to save humanity from sin. Jesus was the human form of God, a preacher and prophet. Jesus was judged and executed by the Romans. Jesus Christ is seen as the final, and most clear, mean of communication between God and man.

The Holy Spirit is an impersonal power which guides, purifies, and strengthens. The Holy Spirit is received at Baptism, and is thereafter thought to be the divine force within every individual. According to the Bible all humans are born with a certain amount of inherent evil ("the original sin"), due to the sins committed by Adam and Eve, the process of Baptism takes away this evil and admits the Holy Spirit to enter.

The Original Sin dates back to the story of Creation where God created a perfect place called Eden. First He created the animals, then man which He placed above the animals. The first man was named Adam, later a woman, named Eve, was made from one of Adam's ribs. They were told that they were allowed do as they pleased in the Garden of Eden, except eat the apples from the Tree of Knowledge. A snake tricked Eve into eating of, and giving one of these apples to Adam. This resulted in Adam and Eve realizing that they were naked and they became embarrassed. When God found out what had happened he banished them from Eden.

After the Original Sin, Adam and Eve ended up on Earth. Earth itself can be said to be a realm between heaven and hell, and was created in 6 days by God, since he rested on the Sunday. On earth it became every human's responsibility to, by adherence to God's will gain forgiveness for the Original Sin. By gaining God's forgiveness every human being can reach (i.e. in a sense: return to) the Garden of Eden. In other words, those acting according to God's ideals in life (i.e. functional actors) will be rewarded after the death of their physical bodies, while the dysfunctional individuals in the religious system will end up in eternal torture and punishment in Hell. Hence, the system relies heavily on the law of cause and effect (i.e. sin, and thou shall go to Hell), however, humans are still thought to be acting according to law of freedom in that people are apt to choose what course of action to take. People have freedom in the sense that God does not change their activities, He merely put out rules for how they ought to act. This is in line with Kantian ethics, all though the dogmatism of Catholicism in no way agrees with Kantian philosophy concerning the existence of God. When it comes to the existence of God Catholicism is more in line with Spinoza, in the sense that the religion begins from God and builds all its moral systems upon this supposed truth.

It can thus be concluded that it is the all-powerful and all-knowing characteristics of God that regulates the activities of the actors in Catholicism. It can then be objectively argued that Catholics are acting according to the pleasure/pain principle in their moral reasoning, however repressed this fact might be. For without the reward of Heaven (or the punishment of Hell) there would be little reason to act according to God's will. Obviously Catholics are acting according to the reality principle in the sense that God indeed is unarguably real from their subjective point of view.

It is this concept that is the base for Christian morality. The demands of the system upon the actors are made up of a number of specified "dos" and "don'ts". The most striking example of this being the Ten Commandments:

1. I am the Lord your God.
2. You may worship no other gods but Me.
3. You may not use the name of God in vain.
4. Remember to keep holy the Sabbath day.
5. Honor your father and mother.
6. Do not murder.
7. Do not commit adultery.
8. Do not steal.
9. Do not lie.
10. Do not covet your neighbor's property or circumstances.

The Catholic Church is the communicator from God to humans, it is set up to interpret the Bible (i.e. the book in which God's word is written) and then consequently give its interpretations to the people for them to follow. People communicate with God through the prayer, a ritual with two major uses, 1, paying tribute to God, and 2, the asking God for help to overcome earthly troubles (for example strength, love, and happiness), sometimes even divine intervention.

The basic guideline of Catholicism concerning the relation between actors and environment is that there should always be a closer relation to God than to any current event. God's ideals of good do not change in relation to the environment, as in Consequentialism, instead the will of God (in any separate event) is made up of a set of categorical imperatives (i.e. much like Kant described it).

Kantian ethics are however different from Catholic ethics, since Kant stated that compassion, sympathy and pity were no basis for moral activity. Catholics on the other hand, like all Christians, are well aware of their God's will that they should love one another and, consequently, emotions such as compassion and sympathy are moral in themselves. Catholics not only has a duty to act morally, but they are commanded to also feel morally (i.e. love).

2.1 - Evalutaion of Catholicism

Catholicism's fundamental fallacy lies in the precise dogmatism in which God is described and depicted. This dogmatism expresses God in terms of indisputable facts, which only heretics would even question, and this leaves no room for individual interpretation. Secondly, this dogmatism results in the entire religion having great troubles adapting to the changes of time. Through the industrial, democratic and educational revolutions the Catholic Church has always been behind its time, trying to hold on to concepts which has been disproved already. The myths depicted in the Bible, which for example explain the origin of man, when it was written, was taken literately but have now been scientifically disproved. Some of these myths have ever since been thought of as metaphorical, where as the rest are still seen as facts, this leads to question how much will be disproved and in return be excused as metaphors. Secondly, as the number of so-called metaphors increases, there is a question of what meaning the religious system will retain.

The number of contradictions within the Bible is too high to ignore, especially when it comes to God. God is said to be omnipotent, omniscient, and supremely benevolent, He even stated in the Ten Commandments that killing is a sin, yet it is established in the Bible that He has killed vast number of people at different occasions. This not only contradicts Him being supremely benevolent but also his omnipotence since it was acts of irrationality and emotion (non-instrumental violence). God would not be acting on this primary process level if He was omniscient.

Furthermore, an all-knowing being would under no circumstances become surprised, as he clearly was when Adam and Eve ate the apple. His omniscience would also contradict the notion of free will, since God would know exactly what each person would ever do, which would mean that our future is predetermined, giving us no power to choose or change the outcome of our lives. This in turn would mean that judgement upon us has already been made long before we were created, making the basis of the entire system void. A Catholic might defend this by saying that God has chosen not to know what we are going to do. This however would insinuate that God is not omniscient, and that He, in theory, could be deceived.

The presence of evil is also to be questioned, since God is said to be the creator of everything, why would He allow evil? There are possible answers to this question. Either God is not omnipotent, or He is not supremely benevolent. Maybe God made a mistake while creating the universe, in which case He cannot be omniscient.

Religious persons are fond of stating that "God works in mysterious ways", but this can hardly be seen as a good excuse for all the atrocities that has occurred throughout human history. Reasoning of this kind would justify any sort of evil action, since the actor himself does not need to account for his good, however unknown, intentions. Finally, this reasoning leads up to ridiculous conclusions: God might just as well be evil, using good as a mysterious tool for his wicked plans.

However, if one accepts the characteristics of God that the Catholic Church states, then evil is indeed a tool, which God uses in order to create a greater good. What possible good outcomes this presence of evil might have for humanity remains to be discovered. There is also the question of why God, in the case of Him existing, does not show himself to humanity, thus putting an end to all this questioning about him. Catholics might say that whole point of our lives is God testing our faith in him, and letting us use our "free will" to follow him. This reasoning results in the following: The more evidence against God's existence there is, the harder is the test, and consequently, the more rewarded for the faithful person.

On the other hand, there are numerous accounts of God directly intervening, performing miracles, not to mention what is depicted in the Bible. It seems then, that God had an active period of great wonder-making about 2000 years ago, and then became rather resigned in our times, merely showing up now and then on the back of some road-signs in Mexico, or causing the occasional stigmata. The question if He intervenes or not remains, and if we conclude that he does, then why in such insignificant circumstances?

If we put Catholicism in relation to humanistic ethics, we see that the moral basis of Catholicism is clearly that of an irrational authority, as opposed to a rational one. In that the regulator's (i.e. God's) primary aim is to, with the enforcing of morals, achieve a result that benefits him. This stands in contrast to humanistic ethics, where the moral basis is rational, and thus the moral guidelines are created to serve the human individual in the first place, not any higher authority.

In the irrational authority system, it is not the activities in themselves that are sinful or good, but instead whether or not they are allowed by the higher authority. For example, the sin that Adam and Eve committed has nothing to do with the eating of apples, instead both Christianity and Judaism agree that the Original Sin lies in the fact that they did not do as they were told by the regulator.

The irrational authority bases its authority on power and fear, induced with physical or psychological means. In this system, the greatest virtue is obedience and silence, while the greatest sin is revolt. Forgiveness from sin is achieved through the dysfunctional actor admitting his faults at the threat of punishment. This is true for Catholicism, with the terminology of repentance (i.e. admitting one's faults) and Hell (i.e. threat of punishment).

An irrational authority system is in its nature exploiting of its subjects, regardless of how much benefits this exploitation might bring the individual (i.e. the positive contents to religion, as stated by William James). The basic attitude of the regulator is that human beings are not apt to make ethical decisions using their own reason, contradicting humanistic and cultural systems that state the exact opposite.

In the end, it is the dogmatism of Catholicism that is a great problem. All the commandments and guidelines in the religious system are set up to serve a practical purpose. For example, the threat of Hell and reward of Heaven was made up to regulate people's activities in a favorable way. Consequently, suicide had to be labeled a sin, or people would depart prematurely in order to reach God's more pleasurable haven. If it were not for these concepts being so dogmatically regarded as objective facts, there would be little or nothing to criticize concerning this reasoning. For there seems to be far too much human reasoning behind these moral concepts for it to have been made by anything, or anyone, else but humans. Furthermore, the mere fact that the system can be questioned for more or less obvious faults, such as the above, destroys all possibility of the system being created by an omniscient being.

~SECTION TWO~

3 - Taoism

3.1 - Taoism, the basics

Taoism is a philosophical religion and, in a sense, it is open for much individual interpretation. The religious text Tao Te Ching covers the entire creed of Taoism, and it is written in a poetic, almost lyrical, form. There are few precise commandments within Taoism, instead the writings state general philosophical arguments about the world and then suggest what behavior this knowledge ought to cause. Taoism is however more of a way of thought, than a way of behavior. Tao means the Method or Way by which the world works, Te means the Power by which humans are able to follow this way. Tao has three meanings:

1. It is the force of the universe, to complex and vast for human senses to grasp. One can only grasp it through "mystical insight" (i.e. philosophical reasoning), and even then words cannot express what has been discovered. Tao is the world, the only world, there is nothing supernatural about it. One cannot pray to Tao, Tao is not a living, conscious nor moral entity. Tao is not eternal, but changes constantly. Tao is not merely the cause of all, but also the flow and terminus of all things.

2. Tao also put order into the universe, makes nature work and gives order and sense to all life, preventing chaos.

3. Tao is the Way one should order one's life in order to gear it the way the universe works. Then life will go smoothly, without struggling. To do this we must have the Power (i.e. Te) at our disposal.

There are in fact two different types of Taoism. The first school is the Taoist School of Philosophy (Tao Chia), and it involves the Power (Te) which enters our lives when we gear ourselves to the Yin-Yang Way (Tao). This school lies within the borders of the cultural system, in that it is based on knowledge and practicality rather than faith. The second school is Tao Chaio (Teaching of the Way) is a religious system, a separate movement with gods, temples and priests and the use of magic and alchemy. It is the Tao Chia that shall be taken in account in this assignment, by an analysis of Tao Te Ching.

3.2 - Tao Te Ching

Chapter 1
Line
1 The Way that can be told of is not an Unvarying Way:
2 …It was from the nameless that Heaven and Earth sprang;
3 The named is but the mother that rears the ten thousand creatures,
4 Each after its kind.
5 Truly, "Only he that rids himself forever of desire can see the Secret Essences";
6 He that has never rid himself of desire can only see the Outcomes.
7 These two things issued from the same mould, but nevertheless are different in name.
8 This "same mould" we can but call the Mystery,
9 …The Doorway whence issued all Secret Essences

(Line 1) The Way (i.e. Tao - the path by which one should act and live and also the way in which the universe works) changes with relation to the environment. The ethics of Taoism are thus similar to Consequentialism, however not completely. The ethics of Taoism consists firstly of the statement that one should always act according the reality principle, for the best outcome (Consequentialism), but there are also basic moral concepts with regards to behavior that should always be followed (example: violence is always wrong, no matter the circumstances). These moral imperatives are however also in line with Consequentialism, as for example regarding violence: "Show me a man of violence that came to a good end, and I shall take him as my teacher". (Chapter 42, Line 10)

(Lines 2-4) The First Cause of all that exists is unknown (i.e. nameless), and is not thought to be a conscious being, nor does this original force have any moral imperatives to grant humanity. In this passage, as on many other occasions, Taoism takes a very scientific image: stating that the universe works according to determinism, rather than will. Taoism is not concerned with serving any higher entity, on the contrary, the creed is meant to have a strictly practical use in life (i.e. there is no possible reward of heaven).

(Lines 5-6) This statement is quite advanced, and refers to the subjective desires of human beings. In order to see the true causes (i.e. Secret Essences) one must de-center, and come to terms with one's own objective insignificance. If this is not accomplished, one will merely see the actual outcomes of these true causes, and based on only these outcomes one will then form theories that are not true. "The ten thousand creatures" is an expression for all life.

(Lines 7-9) The text is repeating that the exact nature of the Way is unknown to human wisdom, but that one can come closer to understanding the Way by differentiating causes and outcomes (Lines 5-6).

Tao Te Ching makes very clear the relativity that feeds human concepts, for example: "Long and short test one another; High and low determine one another. ". (Chapter 2, Lines 9-10) Because of all these concepts being causes of each other (i.e. love - hate, beauty - ugliness) it is stated that activity based on these concepts is not in line with the Way. Instead, one should on all occasions act as the universe works: "He rears them, but does not lay claim to them, Controls them, but does not lean upon them". (Chapter 2, Lines 17-18) One should rely on "actionless" activity, as action can only make one thing high and valuable at the expense of something becoming low and worthless. One should, just as the universe, accomplish one's aims without calling attention to it (i.e. classify oneself as a victor), for then one might be "ejected from the fruition" of what one has done. However, after having stated this, these directives are still rather vague and thus open to interpretation.


It is vital to point out that the philosophical Taoism is a creed that functions on a micro level, as it consists of individual philosophical thinking. The religion has no collective dogma for masses to follow together, indeed, the author of Tao Te Ching held that civilization was the downfall of man all together. The separate school of Tao Chaio takes care of the regulative activity on the macro level.

Since Taoism does not speak of the supernatural, there are consequently no holy concepts of good and evil, right and wrong, and so forth. The creed sets out only to illuminate the most practical and easy way of life. There are no sins, detailed imperatives, meanings or heroic deeds to be found in Taoism, except to live in accordance with nature.

3.3 - Evaluation of Taoism

As already stated, Taoism is a philosophical religion and thus not a religious system but a cultural one. The system does work according to the law of freedom, the law of cause and effect and the law of reason. In terms of morality it is a rational authority system, in that it is the responsibility of the individual to both decide what ethics to have and then be obliged to follow this ethics, while the individual has responsible do merely the latter in an irrational authority system.

Depending on how one interprets it, the Taoist relation to the Tao can be compared with Kantian philosophy concerning God. However, since Tao is not thought have any moral imperatives to grant the individual, there is no complete similarity between the two.

The lack of dogmatism makes Taoism quite secularized. It is an open system since it is philosophical and based on practical reason. Even though the founder of Taoism did not like society, there are no great disputes between Taoism and the democratic and educational revolutions. Indeed, democracy and education are concepts that are well incorporated in Taoism itself, all though on the micro level rather than at the macro level. Concerning the industrial revolution there seems to be a dispute however, since Taoism states that value of an object can only be created at the loss of value for another object, and consequently, that the creation of value is not in line with the Tao.

There cannot be said to be any true means of communication between the Tao and the individual, since the Tao is firstly unconscious and secondly quite undefined. The directives for thought and behavior that the Taoist derives from the Tao, are gained from his own mental experiencing and philosophizing. The functional Taoist is a de-centered individual that has grasped the basic message of Tao Te Ching, and incorporated this process of thought in every-day, and also, more complex activities. The dysfunctional actor in the Taoist system is naturally the individual who has not done the above, thus acting according to the pleasure/pain principle and using primary process thinking.

Human reason is the regulator in Taoism, in other words, as already pointed out, the Taoist is responsible for the regulating of himself. The actor's environment has a great influence upon his activities in Taoism, as it is the processes in the environment (i.e. in Tao) that the Taoist is trying to incorporate in his own behavior.

The actor's relation to his activity is clearly defined by Tao Te Ching (Chapter 2, Lines 17-18), but is still quite difficult to explain in simple words. The view seems to be that the Way of the universe is to cause and nurture everything within itself, without demanding anything in return from these objects. From this the Taoist conclude that humans should act in the same way in their relation to the environment and other actors, not because it is their duty to do so, but because this is the mean of bringing about the most pleasant Way of life. Again, it should be pointed out that, the Taoist does not imply an "ought" because of any authority, the "ought" is instead derived from it being the most practical activity.

The law of systems applies to Taoism, as the functional actor in this system derives benefits from the system in relation to what he puts into the system. The Taoist acts in accordance with the Tao, and by doing so he gains the benefit of living a peaceful, harmonious life.


~SECTION THREE~

4 - Analysis

4.1 - Similarities: Catholicism and Taoism

There are few clear similarities between Catholicism and Taoism, these two systems are similar only in the most general way, in that both involve social engineering on a micro and macro level. The Tao Chaio School of Taoism is a system with gods, temples and priests, making this sort of Taoism much more similar to Catholicism and western religions in general. This school, as far as one can assume, is similar to western religion and thus probably contains the same basic positive contents (see: William James) as Catholicism, furthermore, it is this branch of Taoism that takes care of the social engineering on the macro level (i.e. like Catholicism). However, the Tao Chaio School is not the focus for this assignment.

4.2 - Contrasts: Catholicism and Taoism

The two systems are different in basically every detail and in relation to most of the system analysis concepts used in this assignment.

The Catholic Church has its moral basis in an irrational authority, while Taoism's authority is rational. The Catholic Church is a religious system, with dominant norms of faith, while Taoism is a cultural system without dogmatism, adhering to knowledge instead of faith. This is in the end the only differences between the two systems that has to be stated, for these differences lay as base for the rest of details of the systems. In other words, when we have concluded that Taoism is a cultural system and Catholicism is a religious system, we know that everything beyond these facts will differ as well.

4.3 - Conclusion

It can safely be stated that Taoism is far more suitable for present day modern society, than Catholicism is. While it is fully possible to be a Taoist in today's increasingly scientific world, it is becoming decreasingly popular to adhere to the strict dogmatism of the Catholic Church. Within the philosophy of Taoism there is a possibility of evolvement, and adjustment, accordingly with the changes in society. Catholicism, as all religious systems in the modern world, is not apt to evolve in this fashion, and can thus only remain in existence by decreasing in power. It is this fact that has let the open society come into existence, as the dominance of religious dogmatism was lost. This is the greatest advantage with Taoism.

However, Catholicism is more effective when it comes to conditioning and steering of actors on a macro level. This is the need that the Tao Chaio School fulfills in Taoism. Philosophical Taoism works as a steering mechanism for the individual, on a micro level, but this cultural system has not yet had its breakthrough on the macro level. Indeed, the religious system is still needed all over the world, in all societies, not only in Taoism.

For a cultural system like Taoism to replace any religious system on a macro level, further education is needed. A person will only be able to base ethics and activity on such cultural concepts if he has the proper knowledge about the scientific facts of the world, if he is using secondary process thinking, meaning that he must be de-centered. This level of intellectuality is presently not reached by a majority of the population, in almost whatever system one examines, which is why religious systems still serve an important purpose.

Catholicism, however faulty it might be, provides comfort and a sense of meaning for people on a micro and macro level. People in general have a need to believe in a supreme power or something that would indicate that death is not final, Catholicism fulfills this need, making it a positive presence also on the micro level. The fact that Tao Te Ching deals with matters in a much more objectively, and scientifically, truthful manner does not, in today's world, imply that Catholicism is wrong in comparison. Because since the adherence to Taoism means that the individual accepts anxiety-producing facts such as for example death, it cannot be assumed that all persons are apt to live by this philosophy (i.e. because they lack education and de-centering).

Society in general is evolving. First society was closed by a dominant religious system. Then the economic, democratic and educational revolutions opened society, thus launching it into its present state (i.e. in the developed world). Even though it will surely take a long time, the next step in this evolution seems to be a closed society with a dominant cultural system. This state of society will occur when the high level of education, presently only granted to a minority, has become universal.

Strictly hypothetically, it seems probable that this future cultural system, dominating society, will be more or less similar to Taoism, all though written in vastly more modern and scientific terminology.


~FIN~

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