Taoism (also Daoism) is a principal philosophy and system of religion of China based on the teachings of Lao-Tzu in the 6th century BCE and on subsequent revelations. It advocates preserving and restoring the Tao in the body and the cosmos. The Tao is the Uncarved Block of existence. The Tao cannot be rationally explained. Any attempt to do so only explains something other than the Tao. All things arise from it, exist within it and return to it. All things in harmony with the Tao find their truest nature. In the Tao, all things find ultimate fulfillment. If we could only for a moment be in harmony with the Tao, we could be eternal as the Tao is eternal. The problem we have is that we do not normally live in harmony with the Tao. Instead of reacting naturally as the Tao leads, we insist on explaining, categorizing and controlling the world. This leads to insufficiency, pain and trouble. This artificiality and inflexibility is the cause of all personal and social trouble. We need to learn to drop artificiality and learn to live spontaneously and naturally in harmony with the Tao. We need to learn to be natural and in harmony with our surroundings as water conforms to its surroundings. Where much of Chinese religion favors elements seen as yang, male as active, Taoism focuses on qualities often seen as passive and female. Recall this in itself can be a dangerous categorization.

Thus Taoism is path of clearing the mind and its preconceptions. By natural meditative focus on the Tao, we find harmony, equanimity and fulfillment. The key guide to this is No-action (Wu-wei). It makes it possible to achieve all things without doing anything. This requires a neutral and natural meditative attitude. When we understand wu-wei, we learn to do things naturally as they need to be done, not when we think they should be done. Thus all things are done as required by the Tao. Philosophical Taoism is Tao-chia (Dao-jia). It is the introspective and philosophical approach based on the teachings of the Tao te Ching of Lao-tzu (Lao-zi). Popular or Religious Taoism Tao-chiao (Dao-jiao) uses many of the same concepts but melds them with traditional religious and magical beliefs from the past. These work in very different ways but are still referred to as Taoism. Zhuang-Zi (Chuang-Tzu) was the he most influential philosophical Taoist after Lao-Tzu. He wrote a book known by his name. His original name is actually Zhuang Zhou, but he is known as Master Zhuang. His book develops concepts of the Tao and wu-wei beyond those of the Tao te Ching along with teaching using witty stories, anecdotes and allegories.

Taoism by ♫ Highway to Hell ♫ July 9, 2010

Galantir

A group of people, typically women, searching through someone’s digital footprint in order to find more information about that person.

Susie wasn’t sure if her new Hinge match was a creep, so she assembled Galantir and they found out he used to post slurs on gaming forums.

Galantir by Ge-sus September 22, 2026

Word of the Day on September 23, 2026

murderhobo

In a tabletop game, a murderhobo is a player who murders NPCs indiscriminately. This is normally derogatory, referring to a player who totally ignores quests, dialog, backstory, trade, world building etc.

The term is most common with Dungeons and Dragons, but it can be applied to most RPGs where the player is allowed to kill most quest-giving NPCs and NPC traders. E.g. Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Divinity original sin.

DM: The sad little orphan girl tugs at Steve's trenchcoat to get his attention, and ask for help saving her pet dog from...
Steve: I'd like to roll a strength check against strangling the orphan.
Dave: I call dibs on the dog.
DM: You murderhobos disgust me.

murderhobo by Loup&S September 9, 2021

Word of the Day on September 22, 2026

Whale

In sales terms, a whale is a prospect that is significantly larger than an organization’s average customer.

Whales are large and extremely difficult to close. Due to their immense size, they are highly sought-after.

A whale is typically identified at first by a whale hunter on the sales team, but often requires cross-discipline participation in order to close; this includes assistance from operations, engineering, creative, client success, and business development teams.

"Shit...the sales director chewed me out on the sales call this morning. He's totally pissed that I have nothing in my pipeline. I've been focused on this one whale for so long that I haven't had time to prospect for normal-sized deals."

Whale by FQ_GFY February 3, 2020

Word of the Day on September 21, 2026

Concrete cowboy

A guy who thinks he's a country kinda guy, but in reality lives a comfortable city / suburban life.

Eugene: Look at that dude in the cowboy hat!
Todd: He's just a concrete cowboy.

Concrete cowboy by EugeneJohnson42000 March 16, 2024

Word of the Day on September 20, 2026