form and counter form

We join spokes together in a wheel,
but it is the center hole
that makes the wagon move.

We shape clay into a pot,
but it is the emptiness inside
that holds whatever we want.

We hammer wood for a house
but it is the inner space
that makes it livable.

We work with being
but non-being is what we use.

- Lao-Tzu, Tao Te Ching (600 BCE)