Yet, it is a convenient moment to take stock and assess all those things that ought to have been done and others which should have been avoided.

For the unretired, the prospect of having even one day of doing absolutely nothing seems delicious but quite unattainable. Living the waking hours has become so scheduled and regulated that, apart from becoming a hermit or anchorite, it is seemingly impossible to avoid resorting to the telephone and the internet for communication with family, friends and colleagues; let alone avoiding the humdrum duties of work and home. Even the effort needed for taking a holiday can be a hard task.

From the day when pension replaces salary, it is assumed that the elderly (for that is what we have become) have limitless time and space to explore avenues of relaxation and to innovate new interests or hobbies to satisfy a long-held yearning for learning. However, the waning of individual powers for mental, physical and, yes, sexual activity soon becomes all too apparent so that the inverse applies with everything taking so much longer to accomplish. Those daily chores and distractions are still there while news bulletins and social media make for depression and anxiety about “what is the world coming to”.

Philosophers of the ancient Chinese civilisation found a solution for being cool. calm and collected. It is called Wu Wei and evolved through Daoism which encourages adherents to follow The Way which “never acts yet nothing is left undone”. This is a paradox because the secret of Wu Wei is effortless action which leads to that inner tranquility that can only be achieved by accepting the order of the natural world.

Thus, one must learn not to strive against the implacability of opposing forces. The analogy is not to swim upstream but to allow the natural current of life´s river to carry you safely to its estuary while avoiding dangers such as rapids by diverting around them. Yet, the Dao De Jing tells us that we should be like water which, although submissive and weak, cannot be surpassed for relentlessly attacking what is hard and strong.

This may sound like the principal of turning the other cheek or Gandhi´s purposeful pacificism but a more profound Confucian concept of the Wu Wei is a technique which enables the practicant to gain enhanced control of human affairs through patience and self-knowledge.

Conjecture as to just how the philosophy of Wu Wei will be by transformed by the advent of super Artificial Intelligence is a matter of deep concern to humanity but irrelevant to the machines which may soon rule all natural things.

Written by the old codger, Roberto Cavaleiro, before taking a quick dip in the river Lethe.

Tomar. 11th December 2025