Nature
It is the material world that demonstrates the necessity of the existence of the immaterial First Cause. For things to exist, there must be something which exists as a First Cause. The nature of a First Cause is such that to say that it exists is a stretch of the language.
This First Cause from which all things sprang is goodness itself. All of nature, all of being is good. Sin springs from the breast of the man that is not true to his nature. Humanity's falleness is from a nature that is God-given.
St. Thomas is in agreement with Taoists regarding Nature. The Taoist sees nature as good. To be good is to be one with Nature. When the Taoist says that good and evil are leveled in Tao, St. Thomas says that evil is caused by something that is ontologically good. In God there is no evil, but all evil is caused by good ontologically speaking. (see Summa Theologica, by St. Thomas Aquinas, Question 49.) God does not cause evil, but it is caused by something that is good, but which has a defect. The defect is a "...privation of order to the proper end;..." Evil has no final cause (see Ibid). The final cause of all things is ultimately God. Compare this with what Chuangtse says about the nature of evil: Action is man's nature in motion. When man's actions are false, it is called the loss of Tao (Yutang, pg. 120) It must be remembered that to be in harmony with Tao is to be in harmony with Nature, which is intrinsically good.
Personhood of God
A central tenet of Taoism is the impersonalism of Tao. This is seen as a major difference between Christianity and Taoism. If one understands how St. Thomas sees the personhood of God, one begins to feel that there are no differences at all. The New Testament is also full of images and statements about God that seem harmonious with Taoism. The rain falls upon the just and unjust alike. Evil men prosper while good men fail. In the Old Testament we find the Book of Job. Job must finally prostrate himself before the mystery of a God that lets evil befall his servants.
St. Thomas argues that God is not a person as we understand the word "person." In a sense, God does not love some things more than others. He wills the good of all things equally "...because He loves all things by an act of the will that is one, simple, and always the same." (Aquinas, ST, Q.20 Art.2)
...God loves all existing things. For all existing things, in so far as they exist, are good, since the existence of a thing is itself good; and likewise, whatever perfection it possesses. (Ibid)
In another sense, God loves some things more than others. He loves humans more than animals and he loves "...those who are members of his only begotten Son; and much more than all, His only begotten Son." (Ibid)
This seems harmonious with the Taoist belief that Tao is kind indiscriminately, yet "favors" those in harmony with Tao. Chuangtse speaks of the indifference of the kindness of Tao:
There is no man, but Heaven shelters him; and there is no man, but the Earth supports him. I thought that you, Master, would be like Heaven and Earth. I little expected to hear these words from you (Yutang, pg. 157).
These words are spoken to Confucius by a man that he rejected as a disciple due to the fact that the man had mutilated himself out of inexperience and carelessness. Confucius is seen as being "in fetters" as a punishment from God. So on the one hand, the kindness of Tao, like Heaven and Earth, supports all men, and on the other, Tao also favors those who are in unity with Tao. Tao is the cause of all existence and all existence is good as a result.
The greatest reaches of space do not leave its confines, and the smallest down of a bird in autumn awaits its power to assume form (Yutang, pg. 187).
Continued in “Tao and the Divine Simplicity 6
