The Tao is like a well: used but never used up. It is like the eternal void: filled with infinite possibilities. It is hidden but always present. I don't know who gave birth to it. It is older than God.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- The Tao is like a well or void: endlessly usable, never exhausted, hidden yet ever present, older than any deity.
- In plain terms
- The Tao is an endless, hidden source.
- What can you take from it?
- Tap into the Tao’s infinite potential without trying to deplete it.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- How can you experience an endless source in daily life?
- What does ‘older than God’ signify?
Another view
Comparing Tao to a well may suggest a resource to be drawn, which can mislead practical usage.
More from Lao Tzu
The tao that can be described is not the eternal Tao. The name that can be spoken is not the eternal Name. The nameless is the boundary of Heaven and Earth. Th…
Permalink to quote #4 The Tao is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable. The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand.
Permalink to quote #6 The tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao The name that can be named is not the eternal Name. The unnameable is the eternally real. Naming is the origin …
Permalink to quote #3
Related quotes
The Tao that can be expressed is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be defined is not the unchanging name. Non-existence is called the antecedent of heaven…
Lao TzuLao Tzu quote #1 The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao; The name that can be named is not the eternal name. The nameless is the beginning of heaven and earth. The nam…
Lao TzuLao Tzu quote #2 Prana is implicate to matter but explicate to mind; mind is implicate to prana but explicate to soul; soul is implicate to mind but explicate to spirit; and th…
Ken WilberKen Wilber quote #3