The Power of Being Incomplete — Tao Te Ching

Lao Tzu opens with a chain of paradoxes: the partial becomes complete; the crooked, straight; the empty, full; the worn out, new. What looks broken or lacking often holds room for renewal. Then he adds a practical contrast: he whose desires are few gets them; he whose desires are many goes astray. Scattered wanting pulls a person in every direction at once.

Therefore the sage holds in his embrace the one thing of humility and manifests it to all the world. He is free from self-display, and therefore he shines. From self-assertion, and therefore he is distinguished. From self-boasting, and therefore his merit is acknowledged. From self-complacency, and therefore he acquires superiority. Lao Tzu is not praising weakness. He is showing how stepping back from performance creates the very recognition people chase when they try too hard.

It is because the sage is free from striving that no one in the world is able to strive with him. Lao Tzu closes by returning to the ancient saying: the partial becomes complete was not vainly spoken. All real completion is comprehended under it. Admitting lack is not defeat. It is often where genuine wholeness begins.