In the case of Maslow, the self-actualizing people is a Being-lover or Being-cognizer. According to Lao Tzu, the idealization of the Man of Tao and innocent child is nothing more than the idealization of the Tao or Nature itself. In other words, people live in a simple life, a life of plainness, in which profit is discarded, cleverness abandoned, selfishness minimized and desires reduced. With decreasing knowledge people are in a right position to know how to be content and where to stop. So Lao Tzu emphasizes that people should have little knowledge. It is Lao Tzu's attitude toward knowledge that when knowledge and intelligence appeared, there emerged great hypocrisy.

From this it is quite clear that the way of wu-wei is the way of spontaneity, to be contrasted with the artificial way, the way of cleverness and superficial morality. And Tao has non-action, wu-wei, as its standard. It is 'the origin of Heaven and Earth,' and 'the mother of all things.' It is eternal, one, all-pervasive, and absolute. Metaphysically, Tao is the Way, the universal principles of existence. In Tao Te Ching, or Lao Tzu the book, the man of Tao and innocent child are highly praised by Lao Tzu and may be referred to as ideal characters of his mind. This thesis serves two purposes: One, it reveals the influences of Taoist philosophy on Maslow's humanistic psychology which has become the third force in the field of psychology secondly it lets all those who have regarded Chinese classics as nothing but a bundle of obsolete stuffs know that an archaic well still has fresh water to be drawn out to use.

Tao tzu