AikiMuay

Very helpful posts, as are most of these. Thank you.

Thanks for the replies, everyone! Got some deep thinking going on and I'll have to reflect on some posts here later. I know my ego has definitely stunted my mental growth and possibly my own freedom. I guess I just got stuck at 'go with the flow', even though it may seem to contradict what's natural. If someone's intentions are to harm me, should I honor them and 'go with the flow?', or should I defend myself properly which may result in permanent injury? If I'm naturally lazy and I realize I need to be more active at work, doesn't that bring about a contradiction in realizing that my natural ways are not necessarily benefiting me in that area? I'm probably over-thinking and like I said, I'll have to run these posts over and give them some more thought. Appreciate the comments and anyone else, please feel free to add on or correct me if I'm wrong. Liking these forums so far.

So I'm new to Taoism and I've been reading a book on the basics and whatnot. But I keep running across some contradictions (which could be because of my little understanding of Taoism). Maybe you guys could help me understand some stuff more in depth. For example, Taoism is about following your own inner nature and doing what feels nature yet, at times, I find myself wanting to do argue with or go against rather than accept. Also, if it is in someone's nature to be violent or whatever some may see as extremely immoral, is that still following the Tao? So how can we be true to ourselves if we are even the slightest bit resistant, when we are supposed to practice humility? There's other things that go along with these questions but I don't remember them. I'm just stuck at how our inner nature may contradict some concepts of Taoism, even if these things are immoral, but just natural to us. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I'm new here and was led here through discovering Taoism through Martial Arts. Looking forward to some discussions here.