"Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty,
only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only because there is evil.
Being and nonbeing produce each other.
The difficult is born in the easy.
Long is defined by short, the high by the low.
Before and after go along with each other.
So the sage lives openly with apparent duality.
and paradoxical unity.
The sage can act without effort
and teach without words.
Nurturing things without possessing them,
he works, but not for rewards;
he competes, but not for results.
When the work is done, it is forgotten.
That is why it lasts forever."
In this verse it appears that Lao Tzu is showing us a "the way it is versus the way it should be" kind of living. Truly, when one thinks about society and where it guides our thoughts, we see how everything must be split up into one or the other; beautiful or ugly, easy or hard and so on. But consider the everyday sayings like "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" or "every pot has its cover". Each of us can remember a multitude of instances where there was disagreement over the beauty of an item such as a car, a house or even a landscape. When we walk through a park we might be inclined to admire a tree that stands tall with full branches of green leaves and colorful flowers but then turn and mock a tree that stands crooked and appears uneven. In reality there is no difference between them as they are both exactly how they are supposed to be doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. I often walk through the trees on my property and marvel at how every one has its own unique beauty. Some are "tall" some are "short" some "bushy" and some "sparse". All perfect and perfectly doing what they were intended to do. I can't help but stop on my walks and absorb the Loving energy that they offer me. At that moment I feel engulfed in an unconditional, non-judgmental Love and this is what I offer back to them. Indeed this should be how we approach every thing and everybody in this world as we are all of God and therefore all one and the same being.
When I move past the world of form and live in spirit I feel the unity and perfection that we are meant to feel in this world of 10,000 things. When we realize that all that we do, all that we encounter is part of "the plan", part of our journey, hard and easy begin to melt away and only the vision of experience and growth remain. Everything is viewed as necessary now and unnecessary when it is over. For it has played its part in teaching and is no longer needed. Think about how we tend to judge "easy" and "hard" jobs differently before we begin them. Yet how many times has the outcome been the same? Maybe an understanding that it was necessary coupled with the joy in what we have learned or achieved.
A truly God realized being or sage understands his place in this wonderful universe. He lives "in the world but not of it". He understands that all things are necessary on the path and therefore doesn't tag things "easy" or "hard", "good" or "bad". His only competition lies within, to be as good as he can be, better than he was before. To care and nurture all that are in need, not only the ones he is close to for we are all one. There is no medal, no tag, no ribbon or recognition for his achievements because as the task is done it is no longer necessary and need not be remembered. All that is important is his purpose, what lies next on his journey. As with God and nature, he moves with the flow of things and lives in every moment.
