The Dance Of Opposites
In this session, we explore verse 2 of the Tao Te Ching, which teaches us about the balance of opposites. It highlights how contrast—light and dark, good and bad—defines our experience and reveals the interconnectedness of all things. The verse encourages us to embrace these dualities as part of the natural flow of life. This track is taken from my course, ‘The Wisdom Of The Tao Te Ching’, available now via my profile.
Transcript
When people see things as beautiful,
Ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
Evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore,
The sage can act without doing anything,
And to teach without saying a word.
Things come his way,
And he does not stop them.
Things leave,
And he lets them go.
He has without possessing,
And acts without any expectations.
When his work is done,
He takes no credit.
This is why it will last forever.
It will last forever.
When people see things as beautiful,
Ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
Evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore,
The sage can act without doing anything,
And to teach without saying a word.
Things come his way,
And he does not stop them.
Things leave,
And he lets them go.
He has without possessing,
And acts without any expectations.
When his work is done,
He takes no credit.
This is why it will last forever.
So this verse,
The second verse of the Tao Te Ching,
Highlights the impact of naming,
The impact of possession via the mind,
And I suppose more physically,
But it's like a mental possession,
A mental labelling,
A mental characterisation,
As opposed to simply an acceptance.
The moment we see something as beautiful,
By definition,
We are also seeing other things as ugly.
If something is good,
That also implies that something else is evil.
This verse lists a collection of opposites,
That the creation,
The discovery,
The production of one results in the other.
Being and non-being,
Difficult and easy,
Long and short,
High and low,
Fore and aft,
And it suggests to us that the way through,
The way of the master,
The way of the sage,
Is to act without doing anything,
To teach by inaction,
By not possessing,
By not having expectations,
By not taking credit,
By simply doing.
Now the Tao Te Ching comes back to this theme again and again,
The idea of just doing,
Just being,
Just accepting,
Not latching onto,
Not grasping,
Not labelling,
The self,
The other,
The world,
The universe,
Anything.
It's an acceptance of things as they are,
For what they are,
Right now,
A pre-understanding prior to labelling.
There's a practice in mindfulness meditation of labelling.
You observe the breath,
Or sound,
Or sight,
Or whatever,
And when thoughts arise,
When sensations arise,
When anything arises,
You label it.
A thought,
A feeling,
An emotion,
A memory,
And the act of labelling it sort of shines the light of consciousness and identifies it,
And allows you to return back to focus.
That's one way we can label,
But the other way that we label is by labelling those things that arise,
And this is a more subtle variation of labelling.
Something arises in consciousness,
For example,
We observe a tree,
Or a horse,
Or any collection of sensory inputs,
And the act of observing those inputs,
Or those inputs coming to us,
Is pure moment,
Is from the source,
The Tao,
Is it.
But almost instantaneously,
We label it,
We categorise it,
We see it not as the input,
But as a label upon,
And in this way we are ever so subtly living in the past.
I don't see a sensorium,
I see my brain labelling that sensorium as a tree,
As a horse,
As whatever,
And the moment I define it,
The moment is labelled,
Everything else is not that,
That is the tree,
Everything else is the not tree.
So perhaps this verse is asking us to act without possessing,
Without labelling,
To be truly and utterly mindful,
And to teach by embodying that mindfulness,
No labelling,
No expectations,
No possessing,
No grasping,
Just doing,
And in that way,
The teaching will last forever,
In that way,
That person is acting as a,
Well,
A guide towards inner truth,
The truth,
That's one way to look at this verse.
The other way is perhaps a little less internal and more physical in nature,
Just do,
Just teach,
Just be,
Just act,
Just do the work and take no credit,
You're not doing something for the things that will come from that externally,
You're doing it for the sake of doing it,
We create,
We write,
We produce,
We work,
And then we move on,
We just do.
Particularly with the rise of social media and other technologies,
It's easy to only really do things with this sort of subtle expectation that people will see it,
Am I doing it for the sake of doing it and just doing it,
Or am I doing it because I can share and talk about it?
Perhaps we need to move towards more just doing and being and living in the moment.
If you've ever done something with a friend or a family member who insists on photographing and taking pictures and sort of cataloging and defining and sharing every single instant,
You start to see how disruptive to flow this can be,
It becomes less about what's happening and more about a facade,
A falsity,
A sort of simulacrum of what could be happening.
We're not at the wedding,
We're taking a picture about the ideal wedding and sharing it with people so that they can see a falsity,
A lack of truth,
As opposed to just being there and just embracing the moment.
And indeed some of the best photographers and artists don't pose,
Don't change,
Don't impose themselves upon the scene,
They just observe it and capture it as best they can,
And as we've already discussed,
They can't capture the truth just a finger pointing to that truth,
They can't capture the truth at the moment,
The reality of it,
But they can at least not get in the way of that moment.
So let's sit and contemplate the second verse of the Tao Te Ching.
When people see things as beautiful,
Ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
Evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
High and low oppose each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore the sage can act without doing anything and teach without saying a word.
Things come his way and he does not stop them.
Things leave and he lets them go.
He has without possessing and acts without expectations.
When his work is done,
He takes no credit.
This is why it will last forever.
When people see things as beautiful,
Ugliness is created.
When people see things as good,
Evil is created.
Being and non-being produce each other.
Difficult and easy complement each other.
Long and short define each other.
Fore and aft follow each other.
Therefore the sage can act without doing anything and teach without saying a word.
Things come his way and he does not stop them.
Things leave and he lets them go.
He has without possessing and acts without expectations.
When his work is done,
He takes no credit.
This is why it will last forever.
So,
Well done.
This brings us to the end of the session.
At the bottom of your screen,
You'll see the option to view the classroom or to ask a question.
Before moving on,
I invite you to take a moment and click through and share your interpretations and inner discoveries of today's verse,
As well as to read the answers from other students and to hear my replies.
Remember to start your responses with verse two so we all know which one you are referring to.
This is an opportunity for deep learning,
Further introspection and insight,
So please don't miss out.
I look forward to seeing you in the next session.
Thank you.
This track was taken from my course,
Wisdom of the Dao Te Ching.
It's available now on my InsightTimer profile.
Check it out.
