Ah, hairy one who smells of cultured milk products! You are unfamiliar with the sagacious teachings of Lao-tsu; simple and elegant in their conception, yet enigmatic and abstruse in their application. Not unlike tax law. With little effort made to conceal a patronizing tone, I'll endeavor to introduce you to the Tao. Bear in your brutish mind that "the Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao".
But first some breathing exercises: in, hold, out...in, hold, out... in, hold... The Tao is the unfettered force of nature. It was intended to be the sole governance of humanity's conduct. For man is a product of nature. If one is hungry, eat. If one is thirsty, drink. If one is tired, rest. If one is constipated, eat little purple berries. If one wants to pedal a three-wheeled cart piled high with rubbish at a snail's pace down the center of a tumultuous boulevard, do so. At least until one is run down by a rampaging, over-loaded gravel truck being driven by a man stoked on betel nut alkaloids and caffienated energy tonics with high alcohol content, much to the grim, smirking amusement of the other manic motorists musing on the one clear, undisputable rule governing right-of-way: the bigger the vehicle, the more right-of-way.
But, I digress.
In, hold, out...
Should a person be disallowed from following his whim when at the wheel simply because of some man-made ordinance which dissuades a driver from making U-turns from the far right lane at a red-light? Pish-posh!
The laws of man, inferior and fragmentary, contravene the laws of nature. The men and women of the Tao need only attend to the dictates of their caprice.
For a long time, it was this capriciousness that most offended my western sensibilities. Having lived in California, I wrongly assumed that when some moron sped up to cut me off rather than pull in behind me, it was being done intentionally and perhaps gun-play was in order. But, slowly, as the flow of water wears the rock to its will, I realized that there was no intent. Because intent implies decision making and conscious acts and the Taoist driver mostly acts unconscious to anything but their own inner, whimsical impulse. No offense meant; just get out of the way.
When I first started riding it terrified me and after eight years of daily riding and countless life-threatening incidents, it still does. I understand now that it's meant to be terrifying; the terror is the only thing that keeps me in one piece. As my personal sage, La-ree, has pronounced, "If you aren't afraid, you're not paying attention." If you aren't paying attention in Taipei, home of the highest road fatality rate in the world, you're road-burger.
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