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its purest form, cannot be attained until all traces of reason and will have been extinguished.
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Chinese civilization also exhibits a dominant mood and typical ideals in spite of conflicting varieties of specific views. Whereas Western civilization has been typically dualistics and Hindu civilization has been typically spiritualistic, Chinese civilization seems predominantly naturalistic. The ultimate reality of the universe is Tao (Nature), and each particular thing has its own tao (nature) or ultimate reality. Nature is good, and each nature is also good, at least so long as it keeps to itself without either meddling willfully in the natures of other things or being imposed upon by the wills of others. The aesthetic consists in appreciating each nature as it is-intuitively, of course. Reason and will, as idealized in Western civilization, are both rejected, but not so completely as in India. Will-lessness and intuition of pure indistinctness, as idealized in India, are also rejected, but not so completely as in Europe and America. Why China developed ideals quite different from those in both India and Europe may be glimpsed in a brief review of the philosophies of Lao Tzu, Confucius, and Zen.
The ages-old naturalism inherent in rural life in China received a classic formulation in a work attributed to Lao Tzu, who lived about the sixth century B.C. The Tao Te Ching describes Nature as the unending source and end of all things. Each thing, whether a desire, a day, a year, a lifetime, or a dynasty, comes into being, continues to exist for a natural period, and then declines and dies. "Nature's way is a joint process of initiation and completion, sowing and reaping, producing and consuming." 10 Each pair of processual opposites involves arising and subsiding, or yang and yin. Both are good, each in turn. It is good to be born and grow up, and it is good to mature, ripen, and die. But when men try to reverse the natural order of things, i.e., to ripen first and grow up later, then things
ARCHIE J. BAHM
will go wrong. Whoever would either prolong or shorten his life meddles with nature. "Those too eager for activity soon become fatigued. When things exhaust their vigor, they age quickly. Such impatience is against Nature. What is against Nature dies young." 11 Teh is the ability of things to act naturally, an ability which becomes apparent when we observe that some people act in accordance with natures which are not their own. It is the willingness to let Nature, and each nature, take its course. This is the best way of doing things.
This willingness to allow nature to proceed naturally, without willful interference, either to accelerate or retard, is typically regarded as good. Whereas Western civilization idealizes willfulness, and Hindu civilization idealizes will-lessness, Chinese civilization eulogizes willingness. The aesthetic is enjoyed most fully when one is most willing to accept whatever is presented as "the best of all actually presented worlds," which, of course, it is, since it is the only actually presented world. "The chief contribution of Taoism to Asiatic life has been in the realm of aesthetics," says Okakura Kakuzo. "Chinese historians have always spoken of Taoism as the 'art of being in the world,' for it deals with the present ourselves. It is in us that God meets Nature, and yesterday parts from tomorrow. The Present is the moving Infinity, the legitimate sphere of the Relative. Relativity seeks Adjustment; Adjustment is Art. The art of life lies in a constant readjustment to our surroundings. Taoism accepts the mundane as it is and... tries to find beauty in our world of woe and worry." 12 Lin Yutang agrees with Kakuzo: "I think of all the phases of Chinese civilization, Chinese art alone will make a lasting contribution to the culture of the world.... Calm and harmony [with Nature] distinguish Chinese art, and calm and harmony come from the soul of the Chinese artist. The Chinese artist is a man who is at peace with nature.... " 18 He neither willfully desires to have nature different nor willfully suppresses desires which naturally arise. When one becomes hungry, he willingly accepts his desire for food and
