Easy, like Sunday afternoon

Happy Sunday. Today has been just a typical Sunday for just about all of us. If you're a Christian you've probably spent the morning in a bizarre looking building, listening to a man in a dress tell you that despite your best efforts you're going to hell to suffer when you eventually pass away, then you'll perhaps drone out some songs about how you believe the 2000 year-old son of dead carpenter is going to solve all your problems and finish the afternoon off by sitting down for a nice meal with members of your family.. even if you hate them. However, despite all this almost nobody thinks you're a barmy, window-licking asylum escapee.. well except me of course.

If you're a decent Muslim, you've probably been praying alot, and if you're one of that "other" sort of Muslim I'm not legally allowed to go on about for too long, you've had a fun packed day playing "How much semtex can you fit in a rucksack?" and kissing your kids goodbye. This is because you believe some bloke in a cave a long time ago was seeing some funky things and was being spoken to by God. Although I must point out that both schizophrenia and hard drugs can also cause God to speak to you, but.. err.. never mind, knock yourselves out.

If you are Hindu, You've spent the day making food for strangers and Jews have spent the day hoarding gold and giving out sound financial advice.

However, if like me, you are a Taoist. You've spent the day drinking beer and enjoying life. I've had a few questions so I'm going to do my best to stop short of indoctrinating you all and explain a little.

If you google Taoism, you get a lot of conflicting stories and some bullshit about being disciples of nature. Taoism is what you make of it and this it as I understand it. Firstly, you leave explaining things to science, which is as it should be. Second there is no God, no threat of reward/punishment after you die, nor is there threat of punishment at all, nor is there any solid ground rules for anything. It is more a philosophy than a religion per se.

Taoists invented that symbol idolised by hippy weed smokers everywhere, the Yin-Yang.
The basic and central belief is that Good defines evil and vice-versa. Nothing is ever 100% either way, good things will happen to bad people, bad things will happen to good people and somehow the world all balances out.
It is stated that people will sin, no-one is 100% good or bad. Killed someone? It was his day to die. Stabbed in the neck?, sorry, it was your day to die. Its not about not intervening when you see injustice, its about knowing yourself, and trusting your gut instincts to make the right choice.

Whether you lie or tell the truth is naturally based on millions of calculations performed without your knowledge by your sub-concious, this gives you a gut feeling, and its more complex than we could ever understand really.

Taoists believe that society can punish criminals, as a way of balancing things out a bit, so no fear of living in a world riddled with crime. Taoism encourages equality with all people and both genders. It recongises that Men and Women evolved into different roles and we can choose to break or maintain these roles, but each is as important as the other and neither can survive without the other. You wouldn't expect your kettle to toast you a sandwich right?, but you could write to the manufacturer demanding they make a toaster/kettle hybrid. They would though, contact your local authority and have you committed.

Well, at the risk of sounding like Hare Krishna monk in a train station, if you take nothing away from this other than the following points, I'll be pleased;

The brightest light, casts the darkest shadow. Remember that with out bad things we wouldn't appreciate the good things. You will do bad things in your life, but it doesn't make you a bad person.

So, for once I'm finishing positively, and I hope you all, of all faiths, unless you're a personal injury lawyer, have a great Sunday, and awesome Bank Holiday.