Chapter 11

Thoughts and Applications on the Tao Te Jing through the lens of Master Zhu's Teachings.

Thirty spokes surround the hub

It’s their nothingness that embodies the carriages effectiveness.

One hollows the clay and shapes it into pots

It’s the nothingness that embodies the pots effectiveness.

One cuts out doors and windows to make a chamber

Its the nothingness that embodies the chambers effectiveness.

What exists serves for possession,

What does not exist serves for effectiveness.

The idea of nothingness is all through the Taoist thought as I understand the concept of Wuji (absence). The pattern of absence and presence is at the core of my understanding of the root of Taoist thought. This chapter is showing the idea in practice, an understanding of emptiness in the world. In our everyday world where do we see this nothingness in action? I think it’s all through every aspect of our mind and how it relates to our understanding. Is it the possibilities within nothingness that differentiates one word from every other word. Every sentence and every understanding is unique and free standing on its own, a separation from the sea of nothingness from which it emerged. It’s the creative piece of who we are that ties these understandings together, crating the fabric of our realities framed by the emptiness that contrasts and defines them.

In the modern world I see the relationship of absence and presence through our technology. The computer or phone you’re reading this essay on has technology that runs on theories and understandings of a logical binary framework. Our technology is based on a binary system that was developed by the cofounder of calculus, Gottfried Leibniz. Leibniz was a mathematician and philosopher, he developed the binary system we see in modern computing, This system is based on and uses the numbers 0 and 1 at its base. The story is that he was attracted to the idea of 0 and 1 as a simplified mathematical system that captured the essence of nothingness (0) and everything (1). The binary system correlated to his understanding of Creatio ex nihilo, what he believed to be the origin of the world from nothing. I love the idea that the technology that has shaped our lives and our understanding came from a simple logical understanding that was developed as a mathematical model of the origin of the universe.

The root of the logical systems that run the modern world has at its core this same idea of nothingness as compared to something. It’s in the relay technology that protects our electrical infrastructure system. Our systems look for a current, a relay asking itself do I see a current? If yes do nothing, if no close. How much of our lives are like this a series of decisions if this then this. Comparing our situations to a state of being. Our systems of control all have these same mechanisms that trigger on certain responses. Law enforcement, banking, stock markets. It seems like this pattern of comparing is everywhere in our modern world as the logic flows from our mind into our the application of our understanding.

Thirty spokes surround the hub

It’s their nothingness that embodies the carriages effectiveness.

This seems more relevant in our time with air and the open space in our tires.

One hollows the clay and shapes it into pots

It’s the nothingness that embodies the pots effectiveness.

One cuts outdoors and windows to make a chamber

Its the nothingness that embodies the chambers effectiveness.

When I think about these ideas, it’s the idea of separation the understanding. Here it’s a state of a pot within its surroundings. An empty vessel, it’s the shape of the vessel where its effectiveness lies. It’s the thought of the openness and what we can fill it with. What of an empty mind? Is your mind empty or full? I find my mind to be malleable and at times empty. I’ll find myself forming my mind into the shape of a problem that I’m attempting to understand. It’s the inrush of consciousness that fills the empty space, I’ll watch my mind searching for solutions within the current of consciousness. It is like watching clouds shifting in a partly cloudy spring day. I think of this state as an in-between place, a state between the sleeping mind and the monolith of consciousness that rises upward from the sea separating and searching our memories and experiences for understanding and stability.

What can we do when we understand the shape of our minds. I think its effectiveness is at the instant when the formlessness becomes form.

What exists serves for possession,

What does not exist serves for effectiveness.

On a different level we can look at the body-mind-spirit question. It’s the body that is like the pot, the shape of who we are that allows the consciousness to flow through us. It’s a system that works together whether we think about it or not. Any time we understand anything we’re dissecting it, separating and defining how whatever it is works. When we’re living our lives everything merges into one experience when we’re within the happenings of our lives. We’re not thinking about philosophy or how the world works. There is a time for understanding and a time when we need to put it all together and live. It is is this state where meaning and possessions become intertwined, we see this braided in every aspect of our lives and the world we have created.