the elderly and religion
...conforming to what is natural, which is called “wu wei.” The wu wei is the act of no-action, in other words following what is modeled in nature. The Tao embodies the harmony of the opposites in the universe, light and dark, male and female, yin and yang. The philosophy of the Taoist are that all is in flux except Tao, Yin balances Yang, or the natural flow of yang into yin ‘life into death,” or yin into yang “death into life,’(Ho, 1986). It is said in Taoism that by the time that someone is forty the Yin force has decreased by one half its usual vigor. When someone is in their fifties, their body becomes heavy, and their senses such as hearing are weaker. After sixty the Yin has become so low that impotence sets in and the nine orifices no longer provide benefit to each other. ‘Retire once your purpose is achieved-this is natural,’(Lao Tsu, 1989). Belief in meditation and simplicity, Te(virtue) and Ch’i(energy) are the power of the effortless action, for the ongoing quest for immortality. The average life expectancy in China is 69 years. ‘By 2025 Chinese who are 65 years and older will total 190 million with approximately 30 million 80 years and older,’ (Population Reference Bureau, 1998). In fact, ‘China has one of the largest populations of elderly numbering nearly 76 million,’ (Weeks, 1996). The Chinese value a long life. ‘Traditionally, the Chinese elderly were referred to as sage, venerable counselor, and seer,’ (Yu & Wang, 1993). Today, old age is considered to be a time when people can enjoy the children. In fact, ‘successful aging in China is defined as the ability to get along with relatives, especially the children,’ (Frazier & Glascock, 1994). There are four types of Taoism, philosophical, devotional, magical, and alchemical. The philosophical Taoism is the way with nature and returning to simplicity, and is the most original type of Taoism. Devotional Taoism is the folk religious tradition of China with a pantheon of gods, immortals, and ancestral spirits. The magical Taoism deals with spirits and incantations, and the Alchemical Taoism seeks immortality through inner alchemy, which is doing exercises to find the element immortality found within the body. Taoists use their whole being including mind, body and inner spirit to attain longer life and avoid death. The Taoist’s main desire in avoiding death is to attain immortality and oneness with “the way”. Over the centuries Taoists have attempted to do this by the practice of alchemy. While there is External Alchemy that seeks immortality by material formulas, there is also Inner Alchemy. There are actually schools of scientific External Alchemy that do chemical experiments to find elixirs. It was believed that if someone absorbed gold, which is one of the Five Elements, into the body, then the follower would become incorruptible. Since gold is an incorruptible substance, it was believed that the gold would lengthen a follower’s life. As well as the possibility of gold extending life, was the substance cinnabar, also called mercuric sulphide. Cinnabar was used because it sometimes changed to liquid metal mercury, which was thought would promote change in other substances. The Inner Alchemy is considered the earliest true teachings on achieving immortality. The process of practicing the Inner Alchemy included meditation, breathing exercises, and sexual exercises. One must grasp that if one understands reasons for living, then naturally there is an understanding of not desiring the opposite, which is death. The Taoists also use herbal remedies which they feel there is an energetic quality in every herb, of which can bring healing. Another very significant focus of the Taoist religion is ancestor worship. Every deceased member of a family has a tablet made after them, which is put in a small shrine. Being Catholic I have to admit that I knew little about the religion because my mothe...