Looked at closely, the Daoist idea that corporeal immortality can be achieved through physical and spiritual discipline is a non-rational explanation developed to cope with the problem of a limited human lifespan. "The condition of life is such that humans inevitably seek explanations," says Lin Ku-fang, who takes the view that however developed rationality may become, it will never be able to explain life and death.
仔細看看道教提出人體可以修煉不死成仙的想法，也是困惑於生命有限性，而後發展出的非理性解釋，「是生命處境不得不然的一種解釋」，林谷芳以為，理性再發達，也無法解決生死問題。