{"id":21243,"date":"2024-05-05T12:07:01","date_gmt":"2024-05-05T11:07:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/?p=21243"},"modified":"2026-05-21T19:22:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T18:22:36","slug":"introduction-to-the-book-wu-wei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethsorensen.dk\/en\/introduction-to-the-book-wu-wei\/","title":{"rendered":"Introduction To The Book “Wu-Wei”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Wu-Wei meaning everyone gets wrong: not “inaction,” but something Lao-Tse uses paradox to point at on purpose. Assagioli’s 1932 introduction to Henri Borel’s book on what the phrase asks of us in practice, and why ordinary language cannot carry it.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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By Roberto Assagioli<\/strong> [in]<\/span><\/span><\/a>
Rome, June 11, 1932.
Assagioli Archives, Florence – Doc. #23562
Original title: Introduzione alla traduzione del libro “Wu-Wei”<\/em>
Translated and edited with notes by Jan Kuniholm<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Note<\/strong>
The abstract and contextual subtitle in this online edition have been added by the editor, Kenneth S\u00f8rensen, to support readability, navigation, and archival consistency. The original wording has not been altered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abstract <\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Wu-Wei is most often translated as inaction, and most often misread because of it. In this 1932 introduction to Henri Borel’s book on Lao-Tse, Assagioli argues that Wu-Wei actually means action performed without tense personal effort, action carried by inner drive. Following Evola, he calls it acting without acting. He defends the book’s apparent provocations, that joy and sorrow are unreal, that personal love must be transcended, as careful uses of paradox to point at truths ordinary language cannot reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The delightful fantasy inspired by the philosophy of Lao-Tse <\/span><\/span>[ii]<\/span><\/span><\/a> by the distinguished Dutch Orientalist and writer Henri Borel, <\/span><\/span>[iii]<\/span><\/span><\/a> which we present to Italian readers, is written so simply and limpidly that it seems to require no comment. But the philosophy on which it is based is subtle and not always easy to grasp, and since misunderstandings can lead to unfair judgments and \u2014 what is worse \u2014 practical deductions and dangerous attitudes in life, we consider some clarifications and clarifications useful.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The most often and most grossly misunderstood concept of Lao-Tse is precisely that of <\/span><\/span>Wu-Wei<\/span><\/span><\/em> , due to its improper translation as \u201cinaction.\u201d <\/span><\/span>Wu-Wei<\/span><\/span><\/em> actually means: action performed without tense, violent, personal effort, but by inner drive, by spiritual impulse. The best expression to designate <\/span><\/span>Wu-Wei<\/span><\/span><\/em> is the one adopted by Evola <\/span><\/span>[iv]<\/span><\/span><\/a> of \u201cacting without acting.\u201d It is a paradoxical expression, an apparent nonsense: but this is precisely its value.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Precisely, because of the fact that the reader \u2014 who understands that the pairing of the contradictory terms cannot in this case be nonsense or a joke \u2014 is thus induced, indeed obliged, to reflect, to try to discover the deeper meaning of the apparent contradiction. Spiritual truths are of an order so radically different from that of the little empirical and human “truths” \u2014 they are so incommensurable with them that common language designed to designate the latter is wholly inadequate to indicate the former.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Therefore, all Spiritual Instructors in their efforts to express the ineffable, to designate the Boundless and Transcendent in concrete and human words, have tried to use two means: symbol and paradoxical expression. All spiritual and religious scriptures are full of paradoxes. In the Upanishads <\/span><\/span>atman<\/span><\/span><\/em> , the Supreme Self, is said to be “smaller than the small, yet greater than the great,” and in the Gospel we find, “I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; and whoever lives and believes in me, shall never die.” (John XI:25-26).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n