Consider the following: In Buddhism, the goal of the spiritual path, if there is one, is Nirvana, or the dissolution of self in connection with something larger, with an ever-expanding spaciousness and timelessness. Taoism’s central concept, the Way, is described as a non-dual experience, the merging of subject and object—often represented by yin a

The basic thing is to realize that we have everything going for us. We don’t have extreme pain that’s inescapable. We don’t have total pleasure that lulls us into ignorance.