The Way and the Power of Virtue

  Thirty spokes share a single hub, but it is the hole in the center that makes it useful in a vehicle. Mixing water with clay makes a vessel, but it is emptiness that makes it useful as a vessel. Boring windows and doors makes a room, but it is the open space that makes it useful as a room. Therefore, the presence of something makes it valuable, but the absence in something makes it useful. Similar to the valley and the bellows analogy , this chapter teaches us that value and usefulness aren’t always the same thing and often come from different sources.   A tire is comprised of many spokes but it is the hole in the center that allows it to spin around an axle – it is the opening that gives it function and utility – that makes it useful in a vehicle.   The same principle applies to a bowl.   Even though it is made from clay, it is the hollow in the middle that gives it its usefulness as a vessel – an empty vessel .  The greater the space in the middle, t...

  Don’t put "desirable" objects on display and people’s hearts won’t be disturbed. We live in a world that feels like it must constantly “show off” and “showcase” its bling and put itself on display for all to see.   We are constantly bombarded with marketing manipulations telling us what is "desirable," what we should want, and what we need to do be "desirable."  So w e don our new swag, accessories with the latest fashions, surround ourselves with “eye candy” and wonder if it's enough.  We feel pressure from the world and put pressure on ourselves to look “desirable” personally and professionally – to be wanted, accepted, valued, and deemed worthy.   When we try to show-off, either our accomplishments, attributes, abilities, or accessories, we disturb our hearts and stir up trouble.   Who likes feeling that we are an object on display all the time?   Who likes the pressure of having to dress up, get made up, and appear a certain way to win acceptance...

  Don’t value rare objects and people won’t steal. What do we value?  Do the brand names we choose to wear make us feel better about ourselves or better than anyone around us?   Do we ever find ourselves saying, “once I get this or that, I’ll be happy or worthy or enough?”  or "once I have this, I will have arrived?"  Do we ever belittle ourselves or believe we are "less than" because we don't possess certain items?  The truth is, o ur self-worth is not determined by what we can or cannot afford to wear or possess. We are not objects to be constantly rated by shallow and subjective social stereotypes . We don’t need rare or valuable accessories to adorn, enhance, or prove ourselves worthy in this world.   When we (mis)judge ourselves and others in this way, we are robbing ourselves and others of our true worth.   We are, all of us, not just rare but unique and irreplaceable, and therefore of infinite worth and value, where we are, as we are. ...