Tao Te Ching - Chapter 11
- Everything IFS
- 4 days ago
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Updated: 1 day ago
Tao Te Ching - Chapter 11
The Verse (Original)
Thirty spokes share one hub;it is the empty space that makes the wheel useful. Shape clay into a vessel;it is the empty space that makes the vessel useful. Cut doors and windows for a room;it is the empty space that makes the room useful. Thus, profit comes from what is there,but usefulness comes from what is not there.
The Essence — What Laozi Is Actually Saying
This chapter is the Taoist hymn to emptiness, not as lack, but as the very thing that makes life functional, fluid, spacious, possible.
The world teaches you to value the “something”: the form, the structure, the material, the visible.
Laozi flips it:
The value is in the nothing.The power is in the space.The usefulness is in the absence.
A wheel matters because of its center.
A cup matters because of its hollow.
A home matters because of the space to live in.
This is not abstract philosophy. It is the way everything works:
Breath is valuable because of the space in your lungs.
Music is possible because of the silence between notes.
Conversation is meaningful because of pauses.
Rest, intuition, clarity, creativity all arise from inner space.
The Tao is the ultimate “empty center,” the spaciousness from which all things function.
Modern Clarity — Slow, Rich, Line-by-Line Commentary
“Thirty spokes share one hub"
It is the empty space that makes the wheel useful.”*
*A wheel works not because of the spokes,but because of the void they surround.
Without the hole at the hub, the wheel cannot turn.
Laozi uses this to point out:what looks like “nothing”is actually the essential something.
“Shape clay into a vessel"
It is the empty space that makes the vessel useful.”*
*The clay forms the cup, but the cup holds because of its emptiness.
The form is secondary. The space is primary.
This is a profound shift in perception: Value is not in accumulation, but in capacity.
“Cut doors and windows for a room"
It is the empty space that makes the room useful.”
**You don’t live in the walls of a house. You live in the space the walls make possible.
The door lets you in. The window lets light in. The emptiness is where life happens.
We spend our lives building walls for status, identity, protection, but what matters is the space inside.
“Thus, profit comes from what is there"
But usefulness comes from what is not there.”
*What you can touch may produce profit. What you cannot touch produces purpose.
Form = visible Space = functional
We live in a culture obsessed with form: achievements, possessions, resumes, identities.
aozi whispers: The invisible is what makes life usable.
IFS-Informed Understanding — The Tao Inside the Psyche
This chapter shines a pure light on the relationship between Self and parts.
The spokes → parts
Parts create movement, structure, activity. They form personality, preference, skills, reactions.
They are the spokes of the wheel.
But they are not the center.
The empty hub → Self-energy
Self is the “empty space”, quiet, open, spacious, allowing.
It does not push, force, or demand. It simply holds everything.
This emptiness is not a void, it is the source of clarity, compassion, creativity.
Without Self, parts can’t work together.
The vessel’s hollow → Self as capacity
IFS teaches that healing doesn’t come from effort, but from creating space inside, space for parts to speak, breathe, unblend, be witnessed.
Self doesn’t try to “fix.”Self makes room.
The room heals.
Doors and windows → access to Self
When protectors soften,they create openings:
doors for exiles to come forth
windows for Self-energy to flow in
The usefulness is in the openings, not the barriers.
Profit vs. usefulness → parts vs. Self
Parts produce “profit”: results, productivity, survival strategies.
Self produces “usefulness”: presence, calm, perspective, connection.
Both matter. But they serve different purposes.
The deepest usefulness in the psyche comes from what is not a part, from the spacious, silent, stabilizing presence of Self.
A Soft Invitation — Not Therapy, Just Curiosity
Where in my life do I cling to “form” while ignoring the space?
What would inner emptiness feel like—not as loss, but as openness?
Which parts of me try to fill every moment, every silence?
What becomes possible when I stop filling and start allowing?
Can I sense the quiet hub inside me that everything else revolves around?
Closing — The Tao and IFS Share the Same Gate
The Tao teaches: What is empty is what makes life flow.
What is open is what makes life possible.
What is silent is what makes wisdom audible.
IFS teaches:
Self is spacious.
Self is allowing.
Self is the quiet center that parts orbit.
Self creates room,and room is what heals.
Both traditions lead to the same revelation:
Your power is not in what you accumulate,but in the space you can hold.
The usefulness of your inner world is born from the spaciousness of Self, the inner emptiness that is full of possibility, clarity, and peace.
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