Creative Response to Tao

Tao has religious ties to Buddhism and Daoism that are both concerned with finding the path to enlightenment. Going through the whole experience and working with Tao I was instantly able to see how it aimed to achieve that and I recognized several elements of those two religions. The whole process was meditative with the soft sounds of the flute playing in the background, yet you also encountered a definite sense of spirituality as it runs through the different images of landmasses with lots of trees and water. There is heavy emphasis on nature and meditation, practiced by Buddhists.

The word “Tao” itself means a physical way or path. What I find utterly enchanting is that Tao provides a completely new and unique experience for each person that uses it. The flash player allows you to flip the images in different directions as frequently as you want over the course of the experience and then at the end you can start over if you want by pressing the red triangle button. What is wonderful about that is in the end everyone ends up at the same place, yet each takes a slightly different path to get there. If you don’t flip the images at all and just let the videos run their course both windows start out being the same and then slowly transition and differ from each other slightly as times goes on. Whether you chose to alter it or not, it eventually does it on it’s own. There is also a feeling of danger through viewing the vastness of the earth, which actually increased my interest as a viewer. It is ironic to experience something that evokes peace and at the same time has a sense of danger.

To me, Tao symbolizes the way in which each person choses their life path. We all make different life decisions and have different experiences just as we can chose how to flip the images in the videos, but in the end we all end up at the same spot. We have a common entity uniting us, the freedom to manipulate and live our lives the way we want.