Tao Te Ching, chapter 11
Mar 25th, 2008 by spaceagesage
I enjoy reading the Tao Te Ching by Lao-tsu because it is so deep you can gain new insight with each reading. Chapter Eleven of the ancient Chinese text reads:
“Thirty spokes share the wheel’s hub;
It is the center hole that makes it useful.
Shape clay into a vessel;
It is the space within that makes it useful.
Cut doors and windows for a room;
It is the holes that make it useful.
Therefore profit comes from what is there;
Usefulness from what is not there.”
This chapter demonstrates the power of emptiness. Things that are made usually exist to function in mundane ways, like the wheel, the bowl, the house, but within them are inherent empty spaces where real usefulness lies. In Western culture, we often search harder for the profitable things that tangibly exist, and we end up diminishing those things that are intangible. A family consists of human beings, but it is the love and intimacy that make it work. Cats are a four-legged animal, but it is their ability to radiate warm fuzziness to their humans that make them endearing. The letters you read on this page are black text on white background, but it is the thought and feeling behind the words that convey meaning.
A bowl by itself can be beautiful, but it cannot generate growth, usefulness, beauty, or love. The Tao is about generating those things with an emptiness that translates into no meddling, no controlling, and no manipulating, but rather by allowing and honoring intangibles instead of tangibles. For example, if it is good for someone I know to grow in a certain area, then it will be my prayers, my love, and my goodwill that can help them far more than condemning them, challenging them, or giving them my view of their inventory of shortcomings.
When I take Chapter Eleven and run it through my foundation of knowledge the Bible, it helps bring me a better understanding to the idea of “dying to self” and letting Christ lead, and “having died to what we were held by” (the old covenant rules and regulations) and letting the Spirit lead. Plus, it makes this a bit more understandable: Hebrews 11:3: “… we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.”
Chapter Eleven makes life more interesting because it helps focus me on the power, beauty, and growth that comes from appreciating emptiness.
Brilliant post. Brings up the essence of duality for me. Can’t have the ups without the downs, and that form can only come from nothingness. Were it not for the emptiness of the page, there could be no words.
Will read more of your posts.