It seems obvious that the universe is a system which, by means of living bodies, becomes aware of itself — up to a point. - Alan Watts

The perfect Way [Tao] is without difficulty, Save that it avoids picking and choosing. Only when you stop liking and disliking Will all be clearly understood. A split hair’s difference, And heaven and earth are set apart! If you want to get the plain truth, Be not concerned with right and wrong. The conflict between right and wrong Is the sickness of the mind.1 a

The United States of America” can mean two quite different things. The first is a certain physical territory, largely on the North American continent, including all such geographical and biological features as lakes, mountains and rivers, skies and clouds, plants, animals, and people. The second is a sovereign political state, existing in competition with many other sovereign states jostling one another around the surface of this planet. The
first sense is concrete and material; the second, abstract and conceptual.
If the United States continues for very much longer to exist in this second sense, it will cease to exist in the first.

Stay in the center, and you will be ready to move in any direction.