23. Taoism1
There are deficiencies in Confucianism2. It has too much realism and too little room for fancy and imagination. And the Chinese are childishly imaginative . Something of that youthful wonder which we call magic and superstition remains in the Chinese breast. Confucianism provides for3 the existence of spirits, but takes care to keep them at a distance. It recognizes the spirits of the mountains and the rivers, and even symbolically those of human ancestors, but it has no heaven and hell, no hierarchy of gods and no cosmogony4, and its rationalism shows little interest in magic and the pill of immortality5. Even the realistic Chinese , apart from their rationalistic scholars, always have a secret desire for immortality. Confucianism has no fairies, while Taoism has. In short, Taoism stands for the childish world of wonder and mystery for which Confucianism fails to provide .
Taoism, therefore , accounts for6 a side of the Chinese character which Confucianism cannot satisfy. There is a natural romanticism and a natural classicism in a nation, as in an individual. Taoism is the romantic school of Chinese thought, as Confucianism is the classic school. Actually, Taoism is romantic throughout. Firstly, it stands for the return to nature and the romantic escape from the world, and revolt against the artificiality and responsibilities of Confucian culture. Secondly, it stands for the rural ideal of life, art and literature, and the worship of primitive simplicity. And thirdly, it stands for the world of fancy and wonder, coupled with a childishly na