IN PRAISE OF SHADOWS

Title from the brilliant book of the same name by Jun’ichirō Tanizaki. Verse below by Lao-Tse

We put thirty spokes together and call it a wheel,

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the wheels depends.


We turn clay to make vessel,

But it is on the space where there is nothing that the usefulness of the vessel depends.


We pierce doors and windows to make a house,

And it is on these spaces where there is nothing that the usefulness of the house depends.


Therefore just as we take advantage of what is, we should recognise the usefulness of what is not.