Complementing Aggressive Activity with Laozian Stillness

Abstract

This article develops a Laozian perspective to assuaging conflict by means of a stillness that complements aggressive activity. Contrary to readings of the Laozi that understand stillness as a pure and undisturbed state, this article draws attention to parts that observe and engage with weapons and warfare, such as Chapters 31, 68, and 80. The article there­upon argues that Laozian stillness is intrinsically interconnected with its antonymous ac­tivity, including aggressive activity. Laozian stillness allows one to observe patterns that foster aggression, violence, and instability, and thereby enact a complementary and sta­bilizing role through that same stillness. Overweening and domineering forms of activity are seen in the Laozi as likely to lead to instability, unrest, and decline. In line with the Laozian recognition of the interplay of opposites, if one strives for a pure state of passiv­ity divorced from aggression, then ironically this tends to exacerbate that aggression. If those who have the capacity to effect peaceful stillness detach from the world, the world thereby becomes more rife with aggressive activity. Furthermore, a political application of this interplay between stillness and activity implies that when stillness and activity are taken as fundamental political categories, they are not easily deployed in service of particular political motives. As such, the Laozi seeks to arrive at political stability, but this entails that political convictions must be fluid like water in order for this stillness to be brought about.