I'm a Taowinist--a cross between a Taoist and a Darwinist.  I remember the night I realized it. I was reading Alan Watts on Taoism and this sentence jumped out at me:

The lifestyle of one who follows the Tao must be thought of as a form of intelligence. That is, knowing the patterns, structures, and trends of human and natural affairs so well that one uses the least amount of energy dealing with them.

At the time I had been thinking a lot about Darwinism and the serenity prayer. You know the serenity prayer, right?

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can and the wisdom to know the difference.

It had occurred to me already that evolutionary adaptation paralleled the serenity prayer.  Take beavers. Their thick fur coats are evidence of their adaptive acceptance that they can't change the weather.  Their teeth are evidence of their adaptive ability to change the location of tree trunks. The life forms that survive are the ones that exert themselves to transform what they can transform and not what they can’t. A beaver whose body manifests the courage to change the weather and the serenity to accept tree trunks as unchangeable would not survive to reproduce. Adaptation is the process by which we accumulate the wisdom to know the difference between what we can and can’t change.

That night reading about the Tao I recognized that serenity is yin and courage is yang.  Evolutionary adaptation is a process that eliminates creatures that are yin when they need to be yang and yang when they need to be yin.  Evolution selects for creatures that pick their battles well. For us that means “ knowing the patterns structures and trends of human and natural affairs so well that one uses the least amount of energy dealing with them.

Even the phrase “survival of the fittest” captures the dichotomy.  Is it fittest as in physically fittest -- yang, courageous and assertive? Or is it fittest as in fits in the most readily -- yin, serene and accommodating?

It’s both, depending on what the situation calls for.

Here’s the second installment of serenity prayer variations. I’ve got two more coming:

I’ve long admired the serenity prayer.  To my ears it’s the most exquisite, precise and succinct formulation ever of a universal tough judgment call and the wisdom required to deal with it. This week I noticed that it can be readily applied to other universal tough judgment calls. Here are a few:

1. Should I try to change this?

Grant me the serenity to accept the things I can’t change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.

The wisdom here is the ability to minimize both regretted yeses and regretted no’s on the question "Should I try to change this?" because the last thing I want is the serenity to accept the things that will prove changeable or the courage to try to change the things that will not prove changeable.

Of course, the challenge is that what can be changed can’t be known for sure until tomorrow, and I have to decide today. I join this?

2. Should I say this?

Grant me the honesty to say what will prove to have been helpful, the tact to not say what will prove to have been unhelpful and the wisdom to know the difference.

The wisdom here is the ability to minimize both regretted yeses and regretted no’s on the question "Should I say it?" because the last thing I want is the honesty to say what will prove to have been unhelpful or the tact to not say what will prove to have been helpful.

Of course the challenge is that what will prove to have been helpful can’t be known for sure until tomorrow, and I have to decide today.

3.  Should I sacrifice here?

Grant me the selflessness to sacrifice in situations in which the payoffs to the group will prove to have been worth it, the selfishness to do my own thing in situations in which the payoffs to the group will prove to have been not worth it and the wisdom to know the difference.

The wisdom here is the ability to minimize both regretted yeses and regretted no’s on the question "Should I sacrifice?” because the last thing I want is to sacrifice in situations in which the payoffs to the group will prove to have not been worth it or the selfishness to do my own thing in situations in which the payoffs to the group will prove to have been worth it.

Of course, the challenge is that situations in which the payoffs to the group will prove to have been worth it can’t be known for sure until tomorrow, and I have to decide today.

4. Should I delay gratification here?

Grant me the patience to delay gratification when the future payoff will prove to have been worth the wait, the impatience to gratify now when the future payoff will prove to have been not worth the wait and the wisdom to know the difference.

The wisdom here is the ability to minimize both regretted yeses and regretted no’s on the question "Should I delay gratification?" because the last thing I want is the patience to delay gratification when the future payoff will prove to have been not worth the wait or the impatience to gratify now when the future payoff will prove to have been worth the wait.

Of course, the challenge is that situations in which the future payoff will be worth the wait can’t be known for sure until tomorrow, and I have to decide today.