Look at the parts of the world that don’t have empires, don’t have kings. The Native Americans have Coyote. The aboriginal australians have the Rainbow Serpent. The Polynesians have Maui. Not tyrants.
Now look at the parts of the world that do have human tyrants. The Greeks have Zeus. The Egyptians have Ramses. The Mayans had Kukulkan. People worship gods that resemble their own leaders and their own natural environment.
The only exception to drag’s theory is Asia. China had huge empires, but Buddha isn’t a tyrant. Maybe the Jade Emperor is; drag doesn’t know as much about Tao as drag would like. Anyone got reading suggestions for getting into Taoist mythology? (Other than Journey To The West. Already love that story)
I have a Taoist reading suggestion for you.
The Tao of Pooh
Turns out, Winnie the Pooh (from the original literature) embodies a lot of Taoist principles, and this book explains the parallels. My brother read it a long time ago and passed it on to me, because he said it reminded him of me. Turns out I’ve unknowingly been a Taoist my whole life. I just didn’t know it until I read the Tao of Pooh.
I do NOT recommend the Tao de Jing. Although it is essentially considered the “Tao Bible”, it’s all over the place and doesn’t really spell out what Taoism is all about.
The Tao of Pooh is awesome. I had a similar experience to you when reading it, where I realized that it was already pretty close to my philosophy.
The Te of Piglet is also there if you want some more reading through a western lens, but really the Tao of Pooh is all you need to get yourself thinking
Thank you!