Advice

From a written piece by Doug Stanhope:

"I was once in my early years of comedy and semi-popular in the ranks of the open mics in Phoenix when a comic higher-up in the ranks - Joey Scazzola - caught me giving advice to a new guy.

He said "Never give anyone advice because you're only telling them how to be more like you." Every time I've erred and given someone advice, I remembered that.

If you want advice, you most likely just want someone to reassure you of what you already know. If they tell you otherwise, you'll either discount it or you'll take their advice and no longer be following the instincts that got you in this to begin with. So either way, you didn't need the advice."

The advice of Taoism is be yourself. Not another. The advice beyond Taoism is to forget the self altogether and be the universe acting, devoid of idea-self. Be, not try to be. And certainly not try to be someone else.