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All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

Zhuangzi

Study is to study what cannot be studied. Undertaking means undertaking what cannot be undertaken. Philosophizing is to philosophize about what cannot be philosophized about. Knowing that knowing is unknowable is true perfection.
ZHUANGZI

Knowledge Known Perfection Philosophy Religious Spirituality Study True Unknown
Human life is limited, but knowledge is limitless. To drive the limited in pursuit of the limitless is fatal; and to presume that one really knows is fatal indeed!
ZHUANGZI

Death Drive Human Knowledge Life Limitation Oneself Pursuit
To have a human form is a joyful thing.
ZHUANGZI

Form Human Joy
Your preciousness lies in your essence; it cannot be lost by anything that happens.
ZHUANGZI

Essence Lost Lying Precious Yourself
People value that part of knowledge which is known. They do not know how to avail themselves of the Unknown in order to reach knowledge. Is this not misguided?
ZHUANGZI

Guide Knowledge Order People Reach Value
The space under the sky is occupied by all things in their unity.
ZHUANGZI

Occupy Sky Space Unity
When the heart is right, “for” and “against” are forgotten.
ZHUANGZI

Forget Heart Right
To go outside what your charge was, and to try to solve everything yourself, is dangerous.
ZHUANGZI

Charge Dangerous Solution Yourself
Men of this world all rejoice in others being like themselves, and object to others not being like themselves.
ZHUANGZI

Acceptance Man Object Reality Rejoice Tolerance World
Great understanding is broad and unhurried; little understanding is cramped and busy.
ZHUANGZI

Broad Busy Calm Greatness Understand
The effect of life in society is to complicate and confuse our existence, making us forget who we really are by causing us to become obsessed with what we are not.
ZHUANGZI

Complication Confusion Effect Existence Forget Life Obsession Ourselves Society
Men do not mirror themselves in running water – they mirror themselves in still water. Only what is still can still the stillness of other things.
ZHUANGZI

Deep Man Mirror Run Water
The perfect man uses his mind as a mirror. It grasps nothing. It regrets nothing. It receives but does not keep.
ZHUANGZI

Himself Mindset Mirror Perfection Regret
The living all find death unpleasant; men mourn over it. And yet, what is death, but the unbending of the bow and its return to its case?
ZHUANGZI

Case Death Finding Live Pleasant Return
The Tao is in all things, in their divisions and their fullness. What I dislike about divisions is that they multiply, and what i dislike about multiplication is that it makes people want to hold fast to it. So people go out and forget to return, seeing little more than ghosts.
ZHUANGZI

Division Fast Forget Hold People Return See
There is a beginning. There is no beginning of that beginning. There is something. There is nothing.
ZHUANGZI

Beginning Philosophy

All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

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All men know the utility of useful things; but they do not know the utility of futility.

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