Verse 2

Isn't J's picture amazing...you can read his thoughts on Verse 2 here:
Jason http://www.flickr.com/photos/sweetj/3164306946/

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.

Wayne Dyer "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life"

Journey calmly through this life. Enjoy the having of things, but don’t feel entitled to them. This is the key to understanding the more complex relationship between these opposing concepts; old and new, crooked and straight, difficult and easy, long and short, high and low, beautiful and ugly.

We are at the moment of the closing of the old year, celebrating the birth of the new. We have all taken a moment to pause here in the darkest days of the year. After this brief dark night of the soul, the New Year is now with us. Peek into the future of the New Year without putting away the past, step into the new complemented by the old, realizing that our days will run both crooked and straight.

Also know that we will sometimes be charitable for the right reasons and sometimes for the wrong ones, and be grateful for the time given to us, knowing that it is precious because it is limited. The sun shines on all things without favor and does not discriminate.