A perceptive person must live very comfortably in real life. So what is this perceptiveness? In Zhuangzi's view, the key to perceptiveness depends on whether a person can break free from binary thinking. Zhuangzi places great importance on this, referring to transcending binary opposites as the Dao Pivot. The pivot is extended to mean core or key, which is the essence of understanding the Dao. Coincidentally, Siddhartha also held the same opinion. He said that worldly people are upside down, relying on two sides, and are called Tathagata, who is free from two sides. This means that ordinary people are trapped in binary opposites, but the wisdom of the Tathagata is not within binary opposites. Let me clarify that when I talk about Tathagata, understanding the Dao, it is simply a practical philosophy, having nothing to do with the mystical or profound aspects of religion; ultimately, it is about practical application. Let's look at how binary opposites make our lives worse and less comfortable.

The most common example is the small conflicts between spouses—trivial disputes where both sides insist on being right and the other wrong, insisting it should be this way and not that way. As a result, whether they win or lose the argument, they end up with a stomach full of anger. Many people's knots, cysts, and emotional illnesses are caused by this, by long-term opposition. So how do we transcend this binary opposition? It mostly involves understanding that illusion is just illusion and not clinging to it, meaning recognizing that it is false, which naturally allows us to step out. It means realizing that we are being hijacked by binary thinking, which causes these life troubles. Once we suddenly realize this, we can transcend the binary opposites without needing any extra methods.

Our ability to transcend binary opposites comes from the fact that they are not the essence of things; they are merely biases we hold about things, not real. If they were real, we wouldn't be able to transcend them. Let's examine how they are not real specifically. When couples argue, most of the time, the dispute over right and wrong is just defending a fragile self-image—"I should judge the other this way"—which is tormenting both the other person and oneself. It is a kind of internal violence. We tend to judge the other person's shortcomings based on what "should" be, but we fail to see their real difficulties, which results in a lack of tolerance and love. If we allow the other person’s emotional fluctuations, and accept that things may develop differently from our expectations, and let everything happen naturally, then nothing problematic will occur.

Of course, this perspective is just one viewpoint. It’s about looking at problems from multiple angles and understanding that everything we see is merely a perspective. Once we break through this narrow view and eliminate the rigid binary opposition, there is no wrong self, no unworthy self, and no ugly self. I can then forgive myself. At the same time, I realize others are the same, so I can forgive others too, and internal conflicts will disappear. We don’t need boring self-soothing, shouting slogans like "I am great," "I am good," "I am excellent," or "I am confident." That’s self-deception because confidence and inferiority are still a pair of binary opposites.

Zhuangzi said, "This one is right, that one is wrong." This false confidence is easily shattered. Let's take a simple example: when we look at a flower, judgments of beauty or ugliness, richness or poverty, are not about the flower itself but about projections of the human mind. We can first discard these binary opposites and specific perspectives to look at the flower; following this path, we can discover the truth. When I see one, everything is true; all circumstances are natural and at ease. Being at ease and natural is simply enjoying life. With perceptiveness, life is meant to be enjoyed.