One of the ancient Greek wise guys was a man named Euthyphro, who, in the abstruse manner of philosophers, is said to have once asked, “Is good good because God says it is, or does God say it is because it is good?” This has since been referred to as Euthyphro’s question.

Consider the first hypothetical: Good is good because God says it is. Here, God is like the parent who, when his child asks why she ought to do something, gives the response, “Because I said so.” It is good for the child to obey her parent; what the parent says constitutes moral goodness for the child.

To paraphrase Christian author G. K. Chesterton, although it is common for modern intellectuals to insist morality is different in every era of history and to every individual, such a phrase is completely meaningless. But the antithesis of such a statement would be the politically incorrect belief that morality is the same to every individual regardless of culture, era or circumstance.

Of course, the antithesis of THAT would be that there are no antitheses.

Who said a madman is a man who has lost everything
But his reason? Chesterton, I think, writing
In one of his theological works; anyway this portrays
My last patient so deftly that I can only say
It was a most prophetic vision. This man, I swear,
Was a loquacious creature, making it a habit to declare
The most inane ramblings. “Does this,” he once asked,
“Really look like a lamp-post?” And I thought it my task
To persuade him it really was; nothing would deter him.
“It appears, in my mind, like tangerines stacked ad infinitum,

I didn’t enjoy math until I hit algebra. Part of the reason was probably a change in curriculum to one more enjoyable (and comprehensible!) But I also know that doing pages of long division or percentage problems – even if they were put into story form to decipher – were things I just found boring. Algebra was difficult at first. It was such a queer way of thinking I was unaccustomed to. But as time went on, I got the hang of it, and suddenly, math was fascinating.

A priest, a king and a philosopher
Sat upon a hill
Contemplating how
They could possibly
Fly.

"Have faith,"
Declared the priest,
Silent, still, without
Changing a single line drawn on his face; "If
You but believe, God is obliged to grant it."

"Fear not!"
Cried the king
With iron flames in his
Eyes, that betrayed an impudent
Brutality - "I'll call upon my people; they
Are timid, will obey, to save their lives."

Taoist teachings had a profound effect on Chinese culture and society. Lao Tzu had written, “Let us have a small country with a few inhabitants,” so “Civilization was ridiculed as primitive and idealized . . . Travel was discouraged as pointless and conducive to idle curiosity” (Smith, 213-214). People strived to be at peace with nature as well as the community and built their temples in ways that helped them blend in with their environment, believing that “At best, human beings do likewise.

While Philosophical Taoism is the major strain of the religion and most influential, “No solid walls separate [the three powers, or Taoisms]; the three are better regarded as currents in a common river” (Smith, 207).

“The object of philosophical Taoism is to align one’s daily life with the Tao, to ride its boundless tide and delight in its flow.” (207)

School Taoism, as it is referred to in China, focuses not on the mind, movement and matter, or on magic, but on knowledge. They respect Lao Tzu, the Tao Te Ching, and other proselytizers of the Philosophical Taoist methods.

The ancient Chinese were a superstitious people. Tao Chiao – “Church Taoism” or “Taoist Teachings” – was the Taoist division that dealt with the supernatural world. This cultish Taoism saw that

The purpose of Vitalizing Taoism is to release the ch’i in oneself and allow it to flow continually. Literally, “ch’i" means “breath,” but “it actually means vital energy” (Smith, 201).

Taoism began in China with the only book ever written by a quiet country dweller, Lao Tzu. His masterpiece, the Tao Te Ching, introduced the world to “The Way and Its Power.” In it he described “the Way” – the Tao, as such: