Clay is fashioned into vessels; it is on their empty hollowness that their use depends. Doors and windows are cut out to make a dwelling, and on the empty space within, its use depends. Thus, while the existence of things may be good, it is the non-existence in them that makes them serviceable.
Interpretation
The utility of objects depends on their emptiness and the space within them.
This quote by Laozi emphasizes that while the material existence of things is important, it is the absence or emptiness within them that grants them purpose and utility. Just as clay vessels are defined by their hollow centers, so too are buildings made useful by the spaces they create, suggesting that emptiness plays a crucial role in functionality and meaning in life.
In practice
In a motivational speech about finding purpose in life.
If you understand others you are smart._x000D_ If you understand yourself you are illuminated._x000D_ If you overcome others you are powerful._x000D_ If you overcome yourself you have strength._x000D_ If you know how to be satisfied you are rich._x000D_ If you can act with vigor, you have a will._x000D_ If you don't lose your objectives you can be long-lasting._x000D_ If you die without loss, you are eternal.
When nothing is done, nothing is left undone.
A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.
Knowing others is wisdom, knowing yourself is enlightenment.
In the world there is nothing more submissive and weak than water. Yet for attacking that which is hard and strong nothing can surpass it.
Rule your mind with serenity rather than with force and manipulation.
We all have appointments with the past.
The trouble with you and me, is that we don't live in the real world. We dream of fantastic things that may never happen.
Mistakes are joyful, truth infernal.
Without realizing that the past is constantly determining their present actions, they avoid learning anything about their history. They continue to live in their repressed childhood situation, ignoring the fact that is no longer exists, continuing to fear and avoid dangers that, although once real, have not been real for a long time.
I many no longer depend on pleasant impulses to bring me before the Lord. I must rather response to principles I know to be right, whether I feel them to be enjoyable or not.
Indifference is the revenge the world takes on mediocrities.
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