The Tao Te Ching tells us we must become Kings; we must become kings so that we can give up our kingdoms. The Tao Te Qualia tells us we must evolve from Homo sapiens into Homo qualiens: we must become Homo qualiens in order to transcend the landscapes we have inherited (both genetically and from our traditions). We shall find the Tao, not in kingdoms or landscapes, but in Ecosystems.
The Tao Te Ching tells us that we are too involved in the matter of the world; the Tao Te Qualia tells us that our inner neuroscapes don’t have to mirror the material, outer landscapes. (The best way to let go of the material economy is to redirect our senses toward a qualiadelic economy, to move from the oppression of exchange to the freedom of giving.)
The Tao Te Ching speaks of orphans and loneliness; the Tao Te Qualia talks of individuals.
The Tao Te Ching hints at knowledge as the source of hypocrisy; the Tao Te Qualia speaks of stepping out of the stream of time. (Consider that traditions are built upon the past and they resist change; they use knowledge to paint a fear-based vision of the future. History, evolution, and even physics present us with visions of the future which arise out of the past; all is stream of time. But, to live in the present moment, then, is to step out of the stream of time.)
The Tao Te Ching does not provide a practical solution – it suggests doing nothing. Success depends upon inaction, stillness, and uselessness. The Tao Te Qualia gives us conscious ritualing, a technique which is as old as life itself, through which we can discover the emptiness so cherished by the Tao Te Ching. One can consciously ritual with nothing – indeed, that is where it started. (As a wave crests at the perfect moment, so our landscapes may crest as ecosystems, and we surf them. Instead of trying to control nature we develop qualiadelic relationships with it. The weather, for instance, in all its subtlety or violence, will help us endure if we pay attention to its qualiadelic effects rather than its material causes.)