Saturday, February 21, 2009

Mies and Taoism

Thirty spokes converge on a hub
but it's the emptiness
that makes a wheel work
pots are fashioned from clay
but it's the hollow
that makes a pot work
windows and doors are carved for a house
but it's the spaces
that make a house work
existence makes something useful
but nonexistence makes it work




Great understanding is broad and unhurried;

small understanding is cramped and busy.

Great words are bright and open;
small words are chit and chat.
— from Chuang Tzu: The Inner Chapters (tr. David Hinton)
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