Dao is Everywhere

`The Dao is everywhere, flowing left and right. All creatures gain life from it without fail. It succeeds without possessing.' Lest we dismiss Laozi's description of the Dao (way, road, etc.) he reminds us frequently that it is there whether we care for it or not. Comparison to water as something that is helpful even crucial to life but also something that is very unassuming is repeated in the Dao De Jing.

Useful Emptiness

`When a vessel is formed, it's use is in the empty space.' In my style of painting, the empty space on the paper is as important as the space filled in with line and color. I wonder what's more valuable a diamond or the space around the diamond? The illustration for this quote features many vessels; the flower pot with lotus plans, the gas pipes, the building throught the window, the glass, the wine bottle the human body, etc. Think of what all these things are filled with.

Recognize Beauty and Create Ugliness

`The world recognizes beauty as beauty. Ugliness is created from this.' That's my translation of the second line of the second section of the Laozi's Dao De Jing. There are literally dozens of English translations of the Dao De Jing. Like many sections of the Dao De Jing this quote challenges the dualistic view of the world that is pervasive in the West. In the Dao De Jing all things are relative and thus somewhat futile to try and define absolutely. If you grew up on an island where everyone was ugly, let's say warts on their face, overweight, with a blotchy purple rash covering their bodies, and had never seen a person that didn't look like that, would you consider them ugly? I don't think so. In fact, the islander with a few less warts might look absolutely beautiful to you. I remember summering in Cape Breton Island as a teen. My brothers and I shared the initial impression at the beginning of the summer that the girls were quite homely. By the end of the summer they looked a lot better.