FUTURE TAO: Inner Scripture

"FUTURE TAO: Inner Scripture" is a collaborative endeavor initiated by lololol in 2018, collectively exploring and imagining contemporary somatic techniques and spiritual practices. In 2023, we are relaunching the project, releasing experimental activities, interviews, and exercise guides as we explore new approaches to well-being.

FUTURE TAO is an art project founded in Taipei that focuses on the cultivation of energies, power relations, and attunement methodologies through embodied performance. With an emphasis on unraveling the complex relationship between technological things, nature, and human beings, the project draws from Taoist approaches to good living in order to navigate the mind and body politics that we live in everyday.

The project was first inspired by the distinct city park ecology in Taiwan. Day by day, the park site comes alive at dawn with human bodies positioned between towering fig trees, striving towards ‘union between heaven and man,’ a core principle shared amongst different Taichi and qigong groups. 'Union' more precisely here translates as generating positive resonance, to seek circulation of inner power by active mobilization of flow with one’s environment.

Since ancient times, humans have been developing mind and body techniques to expand their material experience and the potential of consciousness. The 19th century painting Diagram of the Inner Scripture is a qi­gong illustration that poignantly demonstrates an inner cosmic world view in which all beings are connected in one consciousness. In this painting, a prosperous landscape is sustained by different levels of cultivation, which in turn illuminate the clarity of respective senses.

As traditional acts of sublimation flow in parallel to the modern, super technological capabilities, FUTURE TAO continues to explore our relation to technological narratives and applications. With the arrival of the AI era in 2023, machine intelligence becomes increasingly pervasive, our way of life is poised to become more intelligent and automated. In this rapidly metamorphosing environment, it may be necessary to rethink their approach to training and practice, in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle.

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