Everyone and anyone has their own opinion about what’s beautiful, and because of this, they have their idea about what is ugly.

They all can recognize the skillful from those who don’t have what it takes to get the job done, regardless of what the job is.

That’s how existence and non-existence work:
you are either here, or you’re not. Binary.

Just as difficulty and ease, length and shortness, highness and lowness are all spectrum comparisons that would be meaningless without each pole, music seeks in its way to show us by use of harmonies (and thus sometimes dissonance and melody) that we relate information to each other through points in time, both before we were born and well after we are gone.

The sage teaches us best how to manage our affairs by simply living and allowing others to bear witness.

Life, when you’re doing it like the sage, can be described like work-for-hire employment in the entertainment industry.

There will always be a ton of different projects out there looking for people to work on them, as well as something fun going on, somewhere, that is unexpected. If it’s not one thing, it’s another.

Just because you create something does not mean you own it or that you are going to get credit for it, nor should you expect it.

You just get your work done, and you do it well, your way, without expecting a ticker tape parade for the job you volunteered to do.

And, lookie there! The work got done! You are a part of history.

But there’s no resting on your laurels. Damn near everybody wants to work in the industry.

Nobody’s gonna remember the project you just worked on…

And so, it’s time to find something new.

Otherwise how are you going to pay the rent? Or stave off boredom?

Because the sage can show where he’s made his mark, here and there, he knows he’s only a part of a bigger picture, and because of that, the changes he’s made are profound and eternal.

It’s only by being part of something larger than yourself that you find happiness, because in doing so, you realize that your part is essential. The same is true of your existence within the world.

And you fulfill the role simply by living.