In this upcoming Kinship Cafe, we will pull together what we have learned about how the Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) works and what it looks like to live it out. Links are in the Calendar section.

In this upcoming Kinship Cafe, we’ll explore the concept of Dao. Learn about the underlying oneness of reality and the patterns that shape everything from nature to our daily lives. If you’ve ever felt like there’s a hidden coherence to life — something connecting it all — this conversation is for you. Join us this Friday or Sunday as we explore the hidden depths of reality. Links in the Calendar section.

The Daodejing (Tao Te Ching) is one of the most influential and mysterious books ever written. For over 2,000 years, it has shaped Chinese philosophy, politics, spirituality, and how people think about harmony with the world. In this new Kinship Cafe series, we will explore the foundations of the Daodejing, beginning with the historical and cultural background from which it emerged. We will examine the Warring States period, the social upheaval that shaped early Chinese philosophy, and the questions thinkers of the time sought to answer about order, power, and living well. Before diving into the verses themselves, we will build the context that makes the text come alive. In this series, we will explore: • The historical world that produced the Daodejing • The philosophical debates of early China • How the idea of dao was understood in its original setting • Why this small book has endured for over two millennia Whether you are new to the Daodejing or have been reading it for years, this series will provide a deeper foundation for understanding one of the most profound works in human history. Join us at Kinship Cafe as we begin this journey together.

Have you ever experienced a spiritual awakening? My first spiritual awakening happened in 2004. I grew up as a rational, materialistic atheist in the Bible Belt, and for the first 22 years of my life I had no conception whatsoever of spiritual consciousness. Something I was deeply passionate about (you might say obsessed with) from very early on was martial arts (I basically wanted to be a Ninja Turtle). So when I was 10 my parents signed me up for lessons at the local taekwondo chain school. It was the kind of place where I started at age 10, had a black belt at age 12, and a second degree black belt at age 14. After that I branched out into other martial arts, including Chinese, Japanese, Brazilian, and Filipino styles. What they all had in common was that they were all external styles, meaning that the emphasis was on athleticism and external results: lots of jumping around, kicking high, and doing various kinds of stunts. Something else that interested me from a very young age was ancient stories and mythology. I enjoyed reading the Greek myths, and I found and read copies of the Panchatantra and the Tao Te Ching. I thought the Panchatantra was really cool, but at the time the Tao Te Ching didn't make any sense to me and came across as a bunch of gobbledygook. In college I studied math and physics, but I went to a small, private liberal arts school where you had to learn a little bit of everything. The class I took for my religion elective was Buddhism. I learned about the story of Prince Siddhartha Gautama sitting under the Bodhi Tree and experiencing satori, the “instantaneous awakening”, and arising as the Buddha, the “awakened one”. They were cool old stories, but at the time meant nothing to me beyond that. I also kept learning new martial arts, including Japanese, Chinese, and Brazilian styles, all still externally focused. I tried out a tai chi class, but found I didn't have the patience for it at the time. For graduate school I moved to the west coast, still studying math and physics, and still on the lookout for new martial arts to learn. One day I saw a flier for a place called the Kung Fu Academy and decided to check it out. It turned out this was a school that taught internal kung fu, largely rooted in the tai chi classics. If it had been called "the Tai Chi Academy" I probably wouldn't have gone, due to my earlier boredom when I tried a tai chi class, but I found the training to be very effective for where I was in my development.

Hello everyone, I’m new here. Living in Thorn, The Netherlands. Looking forward to dive further into the DDJ. I have a translation of a version by John Bright-Fey (original title: The whole heart of Tao). It may be challenging for me to attend sessions live, however I’ll do my best to join when possible.