A Philosophy For All: An Analysis Of The Tao

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organize, or expand, and state their grievances as a
whole before she individually addressed their complaints.

Lao-tzu also uses contradiction in Ch 22,
"If you want to become whole,
let yourself be partial.
If you want to become strait,
let yourself be crooked.
If you want to become full,
let yourself be empty.
If you want to be reborn,
let yourself die..."

In other words, if a person wants to succeed she must first understand the
opposition. This strategy is used often in war. In order to predict what the
enemy will do next, one can think like the enemy, be the enemy. Another way to
understand this contradiction is by applying it to modern day life. In many
cases those who are most against drinking are former alcoholics. They have, in
a sense, gone straight from being crooked, been reborn from having died.

In Ch 45 Lao-tzu uses contradiction to discuss human nature,
"True perfection seems imperfect,
yet it is perfectly itself.
True fullness seems ...

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spokes together in a wheel
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house,
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.
We work with being,
but non-being is what we use."

Although in our daily lives we focus on what is, what is not is of more
importance. This is another comment on human nature. People tend to overlook
what they have, and focus on what they don't have. Like the hole that makes the
wheel move, this struggle for what is lacking, i.e. non-being, is what causes
people to strive for improvement.

Adjectives and Metaphors

One of the most ...

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