If something looks beautiful to you, something else must be ugly. If something seems good, something else must seem bad. You can't have something without nothing. If no job is difficult, then no job is easy. Some things are up high because other things are down low. You know you're listening to music because it doesn't sound like noise. All that came first, so this must be next.

Something perfect has existed forever, even longer than the universe. It's a vast, unchanging void. There's nothing else like it. It goes on forever and never stops, and everything else came from it. I don't know what else to call it so I'll call it Tao. What's it like? I can tell you this much: it's great.

Tao's great. Heaven's great. Earth's great. Someone who's in touch with Tao is in touch with the earth. The earth is in touch with heaven. Heaven's in touch with Tao.

Keep your feet firmly planted unless you want to fall on your face. Learn how to pace yourself if you want to get anywhere.