Traveling the Tao — Chapter 4 of 81

Summary

Chapters 1-20 teach “The Way of the Road“

What seems empty often holds endless potential.
The quiet source sustains everything.

The Void: It is the empty space within the car that allows the passengers to sit.

An empty stretch of road holds endless possibilities.
Silence fuels the journey.

Introduction

The Tao Te Ching is the main book in Domain 1 (The Texts) of Layer 3 (The Externalized & Structured World) of the Tao.

• 81 short, poetic chapters attributed to Lao Tzu.
• It defines the Tao, Wu Wei (effortless action), De (virtue), and Pu (simplicity).
• It is the primary source for Layer 1 (Cosmology) and Layer 2 (Ethics).

Here is a simple representation of Layer 3 of the Tao. Find the Tao Te Ching in the library! We describe the Layers of the Tao in another series, called “Foundations of the Tao”.

The Tao Te Ching is traditionally composed of 81 chapters, which are also frequently referred to as 81 verses.

While the 81-chapter structure is the standard version we use today, the history and breakdown of the text are more nuanced:

Structural Breakdown

The text is divided into two main parts, based on the themes and the characters that open them:

• Part 1: The Tao Ching: Includes chapters 1 through 37. It focuses primarily on the Tao (the Way), the underlying principle of cosmology, metaphysics, and the nature of the ultimate, unnameable reality.
• Part 2: The Te Ching: Includes chapters 38 through 81. Its focus is more practical, dealing with ethics, governance, and how the Tao manifests as Te in the world of humans and affairs.

Origins of the 81 Chapters

Historians believe the division into exactly 81 chapters was a later scholarly addition (likely around the 1st century BC) rather than a choice by the original author, Lao Tzu. The number 81 was chosen because it is 9 x 9, and the number 9 holds significant symbolic and spiritual importance in Chinese numerology, representing the “ultimate” or “highest” yang.

Chapter 4

The Ultimate Swiss Army Knife of the Soul (That You Can’t Actually Hold)

Welcome back, fellow wanderers.

We’re looking at Chapter 4 of the Tao Te Ching today. It’s a dense piece of ancient parchment, the kind of thing scholars like to stroke their beards over while sitting in climate-controlled libraries.

But out here in the real world—where tires go flat, bosses get cranky, and your “check engine” light is a permanent fixture—we need wisdom that actually works. Lao Tzu tells us about something “empty” that can never be “filled up,” something deep enough to act as the source code for reality itself.

It sounds lofty. But frankly, it’s the grittiest piece of instruction manual you’ll ever read.

Section 1: Navigation Strategies for the Overwhelmed Traveler

Lao Tzu opens by telling us the Tao is “empty,” yet when you use it, you can’t exhaust it.

Think of your life as a long-haul trucking route. Most of us treat our spiritual journey like we’re packing for an arctic expedition. We stuff our mental semi-trucks full of beliefs, anxieties, five-year plans, and enough emotional baggage to sink a container ship. We think being “full” means we’re prepared.

The Tao suggests the opposite. It’s the ultimate travel hack: traveling light.

The Tao isn’t another piece of luggage. It’s the space in the trailer. It’s the capacity to handle whatever weird freight gets tossed your way at the next loading dock. If your trailer is already jammed tight with your rigid opinions and egos, there’s no room for reality to happen. You’re just hauling old junk around.

Lao Tzu then lists the itinerary of this profound emptiness: It “blunts the sharpness, unravels the knots, dims the glare, mixes the dusts.”

Anyone whose spent time on the road knows exactly what this means. The Tao is the universal solvent for life’s messy itinerary.

• Blunting the sharpness: It’s the ability to navigate a four-way stop without laying on the horn and popping a blood vessel when someone cuts you off.
• Unraveling the knots: It’s dealing with the bureaucratic nightmare of the DMV or the charger cable ball in your backpack without losing your mind.
• Mixing the dusts: This is my favorite. It means getting down in the dirt. It means recognizing that you, the asphalt, the truck stop diner waitress, and the mud on your boots are all part of the same messy operation. You aren’t flying over the landscape in first class; you’re down here driving through it.

Section 2: The Blue-Collar Path to Prosperity

Now, how does this ancient, empty depth help you actually pay the mortgage and maybe find some peace while doing it?

We tend to think of prosperity as “filling up”—filling the bank account, filling the garage with toys, filling the resume with impressive titles. But Lao Tzu reminds us the Tao is the “predecessor of the Emperor.” It was here long before quarterly earnings reports and LinkedIn influencer statuses existed.

If you want true prosperity—the kind that doesn’t give you ulcers—you have to apply the Tao’s “dirty jobs” methodology to your ambition.

Blunt the sharpness: In business, sharp elbows might get you a short-term win, but they guarantee long-term enemies. A prosperous path requires dulling that aggressive ego so you can actually collaborate without accidentally stabbing someone.

Unravel the knots: The most valuable people in any economy aren’t the ones creating complex problems to look smart; they’re the ones quietly untangling the Gordian knots that everyone else is screaming about. The Tao is the calm mindset required to see the simple thread in a complicated mess.

Dim the glare: We live in an era obsessed with personal branding—everyone wants to shine the brightest. The Tao suggests turning down your own high beams. Stop trying to blind everyone with your brilliance. You’ll find you can see the road ahead much clearer, and other people won’t resent you for blinding them.

Mix with the dust: This is the crucial one for lasting success. Don’t be too precious to do the grunt work. Real prosperity comes from understanding the foundation, the dusty corners of your business or your life. If you think you’re above the dust, you’re destined to crumble into it.

The Tao is indistinct, almost invisible. It’s not the flashy CEO taking credit on the magazine cover. It’s the underlying infrastructure that makes the whole company actually function. It doesn’t care who gets the credit. It just works.