Get out the microscope, because we’re going through this poem line-by-line.
- Again, the Tao is compared to water; this time it's compared to a flood that can flow around any object it comes into contact with.
- All living things depend on the Tao to exist, but the Tao doesn't take credit for it.
- It doesn't try to rule over us; it feeds us without demanding anything.
- The Tao doesn't desire anything, and since it doesn't make a big deal about itself it's easy to not notice it.
- Everything returns to it, though, making it great.
- Of course, it doesn't think of itself as great, which is the thing that makes it greatest of all.
- Our two cents is that this chapter is again advising us to be humble, selfless, and to try our best to help out those around us.