“The concept of something or someone being beautiful is grounded in a belief system that promotes duality and judgment. This way of thinking is prevalent and commonplace for just about everybody in our culture, perhaps even having some value in society. I encourage you to explore the concept of paradoxical unity in this 2nd verse of the Tao Te Ching. By changing your thoughts, you can change your life and truly live the bliss of oneness.

Has it ever occurred to you that beauty depends on something being identified as ugly? Therefore, the idea of beauty produces the idea of ugliness, and vice versa. Just think of how many concepts in this “duality belief system” depend on opposites: A person isn’t tall unless there’s a belief system that includes short. Our idea of life couldn’t exist without that of death. Day is the opposite of night. Male is the antithesis of female.

What if you instead perceived all as a piece (or a glimpse) of the perfection of oneness? I think this is what Lao-tzu is suggesting with his description of the sage who “lives openly with apparent duality and paradoxical unity.” Imagine the perfect oneness coexisting in “the apparent duality, where opposites are simply judgments made by human minds in the world of 10,000 things. Surely the daffodil doesn’t think that the daisy is prettier or uglier than it is, and the eagle and the mouse have no sense of the opposites we call life and death. The trees, flowers, and animals know not of ugliness or beauty; they simply are . . . in harmony with the eternal Tao, devoid of judgment.”

“As the sage lives openly with apparent duality, he synthesizes the origin with the manifestation without forming an opinion about it. Living without judgment and in perfect oneness is what Lao-tzu invites his readers to do. He invites our wisdom to combine perceived opposites and live a unified life. The perfection of the Tao is allowing apparent duality while seeing the unity that is reality. Life and death are identical. Virtue and sin are judgments, needing both to identify either. These are the paradoxes of a unified life; this is living within the eternal Tao. Once the dichotomies or pairs of opposites are transcended, or at least seen for what they are, they flow in and out of life like the tides.

Practice being a living, breathing paradox every moment of your life. The body has physical boundaries—it begins and ends and has material substance. Yet it also contains something that defies boundaries, has no substance, and is infinite and formless. You are both the Tao and the 10,000 things simultaneously. Let the contrasting and opposite ideas be within you at the same time. Allow yourself to hold those opposite thoughts without them canceling each other out “. Believe strongly in your free will and ability to influence your surroundings, and simultaneously surrender to the energy within you. Know that good and evil are two aspects of a union. In other words, accept the duality of the material world while still remaining in constant contact with the oneness of the eternal Tao. The debilitating necessity to be right and make others wrong will diminish.

I believe that Lao-tzu would apply the Tao Te Ching to today’s world by suggesting the following:

Live a unified life.

Enter the world of oneness with an awareness of the propensity to compartmentalize everything as good or bad, right or wrong. Beautiful or ugly are standards of the physical world, not the Tao. Contemplate the insight that duality is a mind game. In other words, people look the way they look, period—criticism is not always necessary or helpful. See the unfolding of the Tao inside everyone, including yourself, and be at peace with what you observe.

Be a good animal and move freely, unencumbered with thoughts about where you should be and how you should be acting. For instance, imagine yourself as an otter just living your “otterness.” You’re not “good or bad, beautiful or ugly, a hard worker or a slacker . . . you’re simply an otter, moving through the water or on the land freely, peacefully, playfully, “and without judgments. When it’s time to leave your body, you do so, reclaiming your place in the pure mystery of oneness. This is what Lao-tzu means when he says, “When the work is done, it is forgotten. That is why it lasts forever.”

In other words, you don’t have to leave your body to experience forever; it’s possible to know your eternal self even in the embodied condition. When duality and judgment crop up, allow them to be a part of the perfect unity. When other people create dichotomies, you can always know oneness by practicing the Tao.

Accomplish much by trying less.

Effort is one piece of the whole; another piece is non-effort. Fuse these dichotomies, and the result is effortless action without attachment to outcome. This is precisely how you dance with someone: You make an attempt, assume a position, listen to the music, and let go all at the same time, allowing yourself to easily move with your partner. Combine the so-called opposites into the oneness of being without judgment or fear. Labeling action as “a fine effort” implies a belief that trying hard is better than not trying. But trying itself “only exists because of beliefs about not trying. Attempting to pick up a piece of trash is really just not picking up the trash. Once you’ve picked it up, then trying and not trying are irrelevant.

Understand that you can act without the implied judgment of words such as effort and trying. You can compete without being focused on outcome. Eliminating opposites paradoxically unifies them so that it is unnecessary to identify with one position. I imagine that in today’s language, Lao-tzu would sum up this 2nd verse of the Tao Te Ching in these two simple words: Just be.”

Excerpt From: Dr. Wayne W. Dyer. “Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life.” Apple Books. https://books.apple.com/us/book/change-your-thoughts-change-your-life/id1435253551

Verse 2

Dale Translation

We know beauty because there is ugly.

We know good because there is evil.

Being and not being,

having and not having,

create each other

Difficult and easy,

long and short,

high and low,

define each other,

just as before and after follow each other.

The dialectic of sound gives voice to music,

always transforming "is" from "was"

as the ancestors of "to be".

The wise

teaching without telling,

allow without commanding,

have without possessing,

care without claiming.

In this way we harvest eternal importance

because we never announce it.

Verse 46

Lau Translation

The whole world knows the beautiful as the beautiful, and

this is only the ugly; it knows the good as the good and this

is, indeed, the bad.

Something and Nothing producing each other;

The difficult and the easy complementing each other;

The long and there short off-setting each other;

The high and the low filling out each other;

Note and sound harmonizing with each other;

Before and after following each other—

These are in accordance with what is constant.

Hence the sage dwells in the deed that consists in taking no

action and practices the teaching that uses no words.

It makes the myriad creatures without being their

initiator,

It benefits them without exacting any gratitude for this;

It accomplishes its task without claiming any merit for

this.

It is because it lays no claim to merit

That its merit never deserts it.

Verse 2

Ames and Hall Translation

As soon as everyone in the world knows that the beautiful are

beautiful,

There is already ugliness.

As soon as everyone knows the able,

There is ineptness.

Determinacy (you) and indeterminacy (wu) give rise to each other,

Difficult and easy complement each other,

Long and short set each other off,

High and low complete each other,

Refined notes and raw sounds harmonize (he) with each other,

And before and after lend sequence to each other—

This is really how it all works.

It is for this reason that sages keep to service that does not entail

coercion (wuwei)

And disseminate teachings that go beyond what can be said.

In all that happen (wanwu),

The sages develop things but do not initiate them,

They act on behalf of things but do not lay any claim to them,

They see things through to fruition but do not take credit for them.

It is only because they do not take credit for them that things do not

take their leave.

Verse 2

Walker Translation

When people find one things beautiful,

another consequently becomes ugly.

When one man is help up as good,

another is judged deficient.

Similarly, being and nonbeing balance each other;

difficult and east define each other;

long and short illustrate each other;

high and low rest upon each one another;

voice and song meld into harmony;

what is to come follows upon what has been.

The wise person acts without effort

and peached by quiet example.

He accepts things as they come,

creates without possessing,

nourishes without demanding,

accomplishes without taking credit.

Because he constantly forgets himself,

he is never forgotten.

Verse 2

Kwok, Palmer, Ramsay Translation

Beauty and mercy are only recognized by people

Because they know the opposite, which is ugly and mean.

If the people think they know goodness

Then all they really know is what evil is like!

Nothing, and Heaven

share the same root —

Difficulty and ease are a part of all work.

The long and the short are in your hands,

Above and below exist because they each do,

What you want and what you say should be the same…

Neither future not past can exist alone.

The sage has no attachment to anything,

And he therefore does what is right without speaking

By simply being

in the Tao.

Verse 2

Mitchell Translation

When people see somethings as beautiful,

other things become ugly.

When peoples some things as good,

other things become bad.

Being and non-being create each other.

Difficult and easy support each other.

Long and short define each other.

High and low depend on each other.

Before and after follow each other.

Therefore the Master

acts without doing anything

and teaches without saying anything.

Things arise and she lets them come;

Things disappear and she lets them go.

She has but doesn’t possess,

Acts but doesn’t expect.

When her work is done, she forgets it.

That is why it lasts forever.

Verse 2

Wilson Translation

Everybody understand the beautiful to be "beautiful,"

But this only creates the concept of "ugly" ;

Everybody understands the good to be "good,"

But this only creates the concept of "bad."

There can be no existence without nonexistence;

No difficult without easy;

No long without short;

No high without low;

And without the sound of musical instruments and

human voice, where would

their harmony—and cacophony—be?

Before and after only depend on which one follows first.

Therefore the sage resides in non-fabrication, and

conducts himself according to wordless teachings.

All objects in the world come into existence, but he does not judge them;

They are born, but he does not possess them.

The sage acts, but relies on nothing;

He accomplishes and moves on.

By moving on, he never has to leave.

Verse 2

Dyer Translation

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, and 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.

WHO IS MIKE VITALE?

I am a storyteller, singer, songwriter, music producer, traveling musician, Jungian dream analyst, all-around curious fellow (Spiritual, Mathematical Historical, Scientific), Taoist, and much much more, based out of Los Angeles, California. I’m constantly releasing new music, in all sorts of different genres. You can listen to me below, on Spotify:

SOCIAL LINKS

UPCOMING SHOWS

I remember being around 20 years old, in the town I grew up in: Visalia, CA. It's not a very big place. It's not very small either. It's between those two things: small enough for rumors to bother you and big enough for it to take 25 minutes to get from one end to the other—I'm sure information was faster than the car there, even before the advent of the internet.

I fell in love for the first time in Visalia. It was love at first sight for me—but ended up not working out. I think back on it, and I know all the places where I made errors. This is important to me, because I feel I have room to learn from my mistakes. Lauren is happily married now and has children, and I am thrilled for her, deeply and truly. She is a good person.

What's really painful is making mistakes and realizing you have made them shortly after making them. This was the case between Lauren and I. However, we are not defined by another person.

While we may be defined by our decisions, partially—ultimately, I feel that we just are. We exist I mean. Nothing beyond that. To put it a better way, we all come in and out of each others lives, changing one another, so that we may continue on: all the additional perceptions attached to it, are human notions.

If we look at ourselves as purely animals, we just exist, accumulating life experience in the form of memories. We own our past. It is involuntary in so much as it pertains to it being deposited in the banks of chaos that are our minds. Beyond that, we can chose to own it as a verb, which is more along the lines of accepting it, and not perceiving it as a burden. Perhaps like cargo floating on a rive in tandem with us: effortless.

I am fascinated by the thought of how much more malleable I was in my younger years. I could love, fall out of love, and love again rather quickly. If I were to be honest with myself, I have become far more guarded with my heart over the years.

19 year-old me fell in and out of love with Lauren, was at the forefront of his love of music, had parents who did not encourage the pursuit of music as a career, so he felt as if he needed to find his own footing and encouragement in other places—even if that was just in the daydreams of his own head.

He worked two jobs: one during the day and one during the night. He practiced guitar in between. He kept trying to write songs, but found it extremely difficult to like what he wrote—to genuinely love what was being made by his own creativity.

The first song I ever tried to write was about a young girl who tried to commit suicide off of a freeway overpass. It was a good song—I couldn't see that though, at the time. So I hid it away, and never shared it.

I remember discovering Dave Matthews Band for the first time, and learning all of his songs. I remember meeting a young girl named Robin that same summer. We loved each other in a window of time, before she moved away. In that window of time, I began reading a book that I very much enjoyed called " The Tao of Pooh". I was 20 years old.

It was a very beautiful interpretation of Taoism, in so far as Winnie the Pooh being a prime example of an individual who lives the Tao. I gave it to Robin when she moved to San Jose, along with a few Calvin and Hobbs comic strip books.

In hindsight, I was more malleable in those days—which isn't to say that I am not that way now—I'm just beginning to wonder if I was living more "the way" at that time, than I am now.

Robin was no possession to me. She enriched my life. Hopefully, I enriched hers as well. We keep contact with one another, and I am friends with her whole family. I love them all dearly.

I continued to play guitar. I was also very fascinated with Chess. I played a gentleman named Jason McKaughan at his house in downtown Visalia. He was an amazing musician himself. He was also studying philosophy at California State University Fresno. We would play chess together. He would introduce me to movies and new music that I had never heard of such as Michael Hedges or Charlie Hunter or "The Matrix" or "Deconstructing Harry"—to be honest they are too numerous to name.

I began to learn how to play Michael Hedges and became obsessed with him, much as I did Eric Clapton and Stevie Ray Vaughan before that. However, I remember showing up to his house to play chess on one day in particular and he had something fun to share with me.

He popped on a song called "Comfortable". He asked me to name who it was. I listened. "Comfortable" displayed amazing songwriting. The lyrics were incredible. His voice had a masculine baritone quality that was very beautiful and entrancing to listen to. I listened the whole way through without saying a word.

When the song was completed, I said "Jacob Dylan?" I knew this wasn't the answer, but it was the closest thing I could think of that matched the timber of his voice. His answer was, "this is Matt Mangano's roommate at Berklee School of Music. His name is John Mayer." I was hooked.

Matt Mangano was also a Visalia native who had just moved to Boston to attend Berklee School of Music. He was there to study recording and sound engineering. He recorded John in the dorm room they shared together. The recordings I was listening to, were those recordings. Matt brought them back with him on summer break and told Jason, this is my roommate John Mayer. Remember his name. He's going to be a big star. Jason was skeptical that this was the case, but there was no denying his talent.

He shared numerous stories with me regarding Matt and John. I began to follow John on my parents old AOL dial up computer. The World Wide Web had just started. John was present on a website he created at johnmayer.com and posted music he wrote to another website called MP3.com. He had left Berklee School of Music after one year there, and moved down to Georgia. I enthusiastically watched and supported his very quick rise to fame.

There were no crowd sourcing platforms at this time. This was all between the years of 1999-2000. Jason McKaughan would go and visit Matt and John at their place in Atlanta, Georgia. John took Jason out to go sight seeing around the South, historical landmarks and so forth. He brought back stories. They were fun to listen to. I shared John's music with people I thought would like it.

When he started to be able to afford to tour, I went out and supported his first tour solo acoustic. He opened for Glen Phillips from Toad the Wet Sprocket. He played a wonderful set over a bunch of people screaming over the top of his music, talking loudly, waiting for Glen to take the stage. He didn't appear bothered by it, but having been there myself, I'm sure it was no fun to have only a quarter of the room listening to you.

Shortly there after, he was signed to Aware Records, which is what that CD up yonder is. He went on tour with a band. I caught him three times during that tour. Once in San Francisco, once in Los Angeles at The Roxy, and lastly at The Coach House in San Juan Capistrano. He came out after every show and would chat with all of us that attended. John is a very funny guy, and was always a pleasure to talk to. I emailed him once to ask him how to play one of his songs, and he was kind enough to provide the info I was after.

I look back on my life, and I see that around the years of 19 to 21 is when I woke up to art and how much I loved it. I have tried to avidly support local and independent music as I find it. I suppose John was the first musician to not be spoon fed to me by a major label? I had never thought of this before in plain terms, but I suppose that is the truth.

My whole life, I have been living the way. I am sure you can say the same. That's what "Tao" translates to: "The Way." We are all living the mystery is what I mean. Allow me to explain myself a little better—I don't want this to be a Chinese Finger Trap.

I started reading "Change You Thoughts, Change Your Life" by Wayne Dyer. In a nut shell, it is the "Tao Te Ching" by Lao Tzu, but with his interpretation of each concise chapter of "Tao Te Ching" which often reads a bit like poetry. I'll give you an example:

第一章

道可道

非常道

名可名

非常名

無名天地之始

有名萬物之母

故常無欲

以觀其妙

常有欲

以觀其徼

此兩者

同出而異名

同謂之玄

玄之又玄

眾妙之門

Pretty interesting, right? I kid.

Chapter 1

The Tao that can be spoken is not the eternal Tao

The name that can be named is not the eternal name

The nameless is the origin of Heaven and Earth

The named is the mother of myriad things

Thus, constantly with

out desire, one observes its essence

Constantly with desire, one observes its manifestations

These two emerge together but differ in name

The unity is said to be the mystery

Mystery of mysteries, the door to all wonders

OR alternately it could be translated to this, as we are working from Chinese characters that are no longer in use. This alone is fascinating to me as language allows for so many different interpretations, especially when it has been translated from a translation. This text is nearly 2,500 years old. As far as I know, these both have been translated directly from the original Chinese characters listed above.

The Tao that can be told

is not the eternal Tao.

The name that can be named

is not the eternal name.

The Tao is both named and nameless.

As nameless it is the origin of all things;

as named it is the mother of 10,000 things.

Ever desire less, one can see the mystery;

ever desiring, one sees only the manifestations.

And the mystery itself is the doorway

to all understanding.

This is paradoxical thinking—and very thick. It has the viscosity of maple syrup. Yet, it is also simple. We just are. That is Tao, yet by my reducing things in simplicity of those words of explanation to you, another human being, that is not Tao. But I digress. This is what I was getting at in the words of Wayne Dyer:

.".. enjoy the mystery."

"Let the world unfold without always trying to figure it all out. Let relationships just be, for example, since everything is just going to stretch out in Divine Order. Don't try so hard to make something work—simply allow. Don't always toil at trying to understand your mate, your children, your parents, your boss, or anyone else, because the Tao is working at all times. When expectations are shattered, practicing allowing that to be the way it is. Relax, let go, allow, and recognize that some of your desires are about how you think your world should be, rather than how it is in the moment. Become an astute observer... judge less and listen more. Take time to open your mind to the fascinating mystery and uncertainty that we all experience."

"Practice letting go of always naming and labeling."

There are many things to be interpreted from these very concise lines from the first chapter of "Tao Te Ching." Similarly, there are many things to be interpreted from a lifetime already lived. Beyond that, is living. It's the present moment.

I've enjoyed sharing a bit of my past with you. I've also enjoyed thinking back to a version of myself that is 20 years old. I find it fascinating that I have ran along a twenty year cycle, a continuum, in which it has begun with me reading an interpretation of Tao Te Ching (but with Winnie the Pooh bonus round), and led me back to me reading an interpretation once again, and me arriving at my own paradoxical understanding. In the process of writing that last sentence, I also just realized that putting exclamation points on things can be construed as shouting. However, most of the time, it just means enthusiasm, nowadays.

What a mystery!

- Mike