Coldest day of the year here in the Midwest – minus 22 degrees Fahrenheit at 8:30am with a high temperature of minus 13 today. I guess that to understand cold, you need hot. I am thinking of a hot, sunny summer day, temps above 90. Insects buzzing, sitting out on my concrete patio under a large patio umbrella, enjoying the breeze, the wind chimes, the birds chirping and a cold drink. In my minds eye, I can close my eyes and see the world today in all its splendor. And today, I can easily close my eyes and see that day. That thought can last forever and be revisited. Which day is more enjoyable? They are both enjoyable. The trees, plants, insects, animals don’t have concepts such as beauty or ugliness, splendor or asceticism; they simply are… in harmony of the eternal Dao, devoid of judgement. So the “Dao de Ching” teaches us.
v.2
Under heaven all can see beauty as beauty,
only because there is ugliness.
All can know good as good only be-
cause there is evil.
Being and nonbeing produce each other.
The difficult is born in the easy.
Long is defined by the 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.
-Rat
