before Heaven and Earth. Motionless and fathomlessI do not know its name. If I am forced to give it a name, I call it Tao (Burke 149). Taos characteristics are most commonly associated with water. Tao like water is bending, yielding, it moves around other things, and it lies the lowest to the ground. Through inactive action the man of Tao, the Sage, allows nature to take its course thus creating harmony with nature. Inactive action wu wei means, There are times when it is better to do nothing, when action, however well intended, will do more harm than good (Burke 141). By embracing these concepts of Tao and selflessness, the Taoists believe that they will achieve the solution to their problem of a lack of harmony in nature. If they accept nature and Tao then they do not put boundaries on their thoughts and are therefore open and in harmony with nature and the world around them. Karl Marx was an economist who also wrote about religion. Marx did not find religion to be a positive contribution to society. He felt that religion produces a false since of illusionary happiness that causes difficulty for people to accurately evaluate their surroundings. Marx called religion the opiate of the people. He believes that it produces fantasies, it is addictive, and that it removes pain. Marxs Theory applies to Taoism. Marxs ideas say that Tao is a fantasy, which keeps people from progressing in their lives. Taoisms concept of no good and no bad keeps people from trying to improve their lives in society. If people accept the bad things that happen to them, and never try to change them because they believe that good will eventually come out of bad due to the cycle of Tao, then they will never act to improve their lives. If people never try to improve their lives; then people will continue to suffer. Taoism is addicting because every time something goes wrong people resort to it, instead of trying to fix what went wrong. Marx...
