The importance of the negative

So this brings us to the section of “The Importance of the Negative” which is very hard to convey to westerners And we have to learn it slowly and painfully and only because we are older have we learned its value The DDJ11 invites us to acknowledge that the obvious material world depends on intangibles What does that mean It means that houses and pots, they share the same thing they are empty we build them as empty spaces we leave a huge void inside And that’s what makes a house or pot useful for humans you can’t live in a house that is full of stuffs you can’t get into it you can’t use a pot that is already full So the DDJ is saying empty your life, empty your life, pay attention to the large forces and move at the right time to fill the house or the pot So therefore one should not overemphasize human concerns The Dao makes people very aware that the wind is blowing the weather is changing their whole forces in the world which we call economic strengths which are shifting even as if we speak and we have to tend to those to make life fruitful that means negating your own desires negating your own sense of importance.