We join spokes together in a wheel.
But it is the centre hole that allows the wheel to function.
We mould clay into a pot.
But it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
A house is made of wood or brick,
But you live inside the walls.
We work with something,
But we use nothing.
Therefore,
Benefit comes from what is there.
Usefulness comes from what is not there.
We join spokes together in a wheel.
But it is the centre hole that allows the wheel to function.
We mould clay into a pot.
But it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
A house is made of wood or brick,
But you live between the walls.
We work with something,
But we use nothing.
Therefore,
Benefit comes from what is there.
Usefulness from what is not there.
So this verse,
Verse 11 of the Tao Te Ching,
Offers us a different take on use and usefulness and the benefits,
And it approaches it via physical analogy,
And there is some exploration to be had in the physical realm,
But I can't help but feel that it is leading us towards a deeper or higher truth.
The benefit comes from what is there,
But the usefulness comes from what is not there.
I feel that this is pointing us towards the oneness,
The Tao,
The nothingness inside of the nothingness,
And the Tao Te Ching comes back to this point again and again and again.
The master teaching from a place of non-attachment,
From inner freedom,
From acceptance,
Whereas the more lay person,
The seeker,
Or the uninformed,
Seeks solidity,
Seeks form,
And would look at the wheel,
Look at the pot,
Look at the house,
And see the structure,
The externality,
But realize that the functionality of those things lay in the emptiness that those things contain.
And I wonder if the analogy here that this verse is pointing us towards speaks to the emptiness inside ourselves.
When you are dealing with a non-dualistic religion,
Any of them,
All of them,
They are all speaking of the point of oneness,
Now,
Almost by definition,
They are speaking of the same oneness,
Taoism,
Buddhism,
Hinduism,
All the variations of,
And the other non-dualistic spiritualisms all speak to the same thing,
And whether or not at the core,
Their core,
They use the word emptiness,
Or nothingness,
Or oneness,
Or consciousness,
Or a universal,
All-encompassing,
God,
Godhead,
The Buddhahead sort of thing to describe the interconnectedness and the oneness of everything,
They are all pointing to the same space.
And obviously when we're talking with translations,
And there's a variety of different translations of the Tao Te Ching,
And every sacred text,
The words that are chosen to translate lead the seeker down different paths based on our interpretation of those words.
Indeed,
If I say any word to you right now,
The words that I'm saying right now,
I'm using words to encode what I think I'm sending them across to you,
And you're decoding those words and turning them back into thoughts,
Emotions,
Moods,
And feelings,
And sort of meaning inside your mind.
So even if we're using the same language,
There is a risk of mistranslation.
The reason I'm saying this is that we need to move beyond language with this verse,
And with all verses here.
What is the feel,
What are we striving towards,
What are we pointing towards,
What's the thinker pointing to the moon,
When we're talking about the center hole that allows the wheel to function.
We work with something,
But we use nothing,
Emptiness,
Void,
Oneness.
I say all of that because when I look at this verse,
I'm feeling something,
And I'm feeling something that I can't quite express to you via words.
That leads us back to the first verse that we covered in the first session.
The eternal Tao is not the Tao that can be named,
This sort of idea.
The benefit comes from what is there,
Usefulness comes from what is not there.
Can we sit,
And simply sit?
Can we be,
And simply be?
Can we embrace the emptiness,
The nothingness,
What is not there?
Our physical forms,
Our minds,
Our bodies,
Our souls,
If you believe them to exist,
All would be considered there,
But all of them contain something deeper,
Something not there,
The hole at the center of the wheel,
The emptiness inside the pot,
The inside of the house.
What is the equivalent of that to you,
To me,
To all of us?
Let's reside in that space,
Let's embrace that space.
Because we join spokes together in a wheel,
But it is the center hole that allows the wheel to function.
We mold clay into a pot,
But it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
A house is made of wood or brick,
But you live between the walls.
We work with something,
But we use nothing.
Therefore,
Benefit comes from what is there,
Usefulness from what is not there.
We join spokes together in a wheel,
But it is the center hole that allows the wheel to function.
We mold clay into a pot,
But it is the emptiness inside that holds whatever we want.
A house is made of wood or brick,
But you live between the walls.
We work with something,
But we use nothing.
Therefore,
Benefit comes from what is there,
Usefulness from what is not there.
So,
Well done.
This brings us to the end of the session.
At the bottom of your screen,
You'll see the option to view the classroom or to ask a question.
Before moving on,
I invite you to take a moment to click through and share your interpretations and inner discoveries of today's verse,
As well as read the answers from other students and hear my replies.
Remember to start your responses with verse 11 so we all know which one you are referring to.
This is an opportunity for deep learning,
Further introspection and insight,
So please don't miss out.
I look forward to seeing you in the next session.
Thank you.
This track was taken from my course,
Wisdom of the Dao Te Ching.
It's available now on my InsightTimer profile.
Check it out.
