Abstract
Chapter 6 is an introduction to Part II of the book which is inspired by Tom’s personal journey of grappling with the concept that science and spirit are a unity. This struggle arose from his involvement in engineering and business in his work life and his personal interest in Daoism. These ways of thinking and being seemed to him to be worlds apart. A shift in his understanding occurred in 2012 when a senior Buddhist monk at Jiu Hua Shan in China offered the view that science and spirituality weren’t separate but a unity mutually supporting one another. In this chapter Tom briefly explores Daoist’s belief that virtue cultivation is the loftiest pursuit, and consider how aspects of western thinking and science support the Daoist paradigm.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
Prudence is defined as “integrating the good of practical reasonableness into one’s deliberations, choices and execution of choices”, and temperance is defined as “integrating and governing one’s desires by genuine reasons” (Finnis, 2018, para 4.4.1)
References
Amen, D. G. (2010). Change your brain, change your body: Use your brain to get and keep the body you have always wanted. Harmony.
Blofeld, J. (1968). The book of change: A new translation of the ancient Chinese I Ching. (Yi King) with detailed instruction for its practical use in divination. Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin.
Cohen, K. (1997). The way of qigong: The art and science of Chinese energy healing. New York: Ballantine Books.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (2006). Material virtue: Ethics and the body in early China. Boston, MA: Brill.
Culham, T. (2013). Ethics education of business leaders: Emotional intelligence, virtues and contemplative learning. Book Series: Transforming Education for the Future (J. Lin & R. Oxford). Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.
Culham, T., & Lin, J. (2016). Exploring the unity of science and spirit: A Daoist perspective. In J. Lin, T. Culham, & R. Oxford (Eds.), Toward a spiritual research paradigm: Exploring new ways of knowing, researching and being. Charlotte: Information Age Publishing.
Culham, T. E. (2018). Is it good for you to be good? The Conversation. Retrieved fromhttps://theconversation.com/is-it-good-for-you-to-be-good-97231
Emmons, R. A. (2013). Gratitude works!: A Twenty-one-day program for creating emotional prosperity. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Erhard, W. H., Jensen, M. C., &Zaffron, S. (2016). Integrity: A positive model that incorporates the normative phenomena of morality, ethics, and legality—Abridged (English Language Version). Harvard Business School NOM Working Paper No. 10-061. Retrieved from http://emkayeastafrica.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/docs/_4_Pre-Course_Reading_Integrity_Abridged_-_400_JE.31701714.pdf
Finnis, J. (2018). Aquinas’moral, political, and legal philosophy.The Stanford Encyclopedia of philosophy (Summer 2018 ed.). E. N. Zalta (Ed.). Retrieved from https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2018/entries/aquinas-moral-political/
Kuhn, S. T. (1970). The structure of scientific revolutions (2nd ed. Enlarged). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, Ltd.
Nehamas, A. (1999). Virtues of authenticity: Essays on Plato and Socrates. Princeton University Press.
Roth, H. D. (1999). Original Tao: Inward training (Nei-yeh) and the foundations of Taoist mysticism. New York: Columbia University Press.
Smith, C., & Davidson, H. (2014). The paradox of generosity: Giving we receive, grasping we lose. Oxford University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Section Editor information
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2020 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Culham, T., Lin, J. (2020). My Personal Journey and Is It Good for You to Be Good?. In: Daoist Cultivation of Qi and Virtue for Life, Wisdom, and Learning. Spirituality, Religion, and Education. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44947-6_6
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44947-6_6
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-030-44946-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-030-44947-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)