Don't try to put your finger on Dao – it's not possible. Just remember that it is bountiful and leads us to everything.

Here Laozi comes back to the concept of Non-being. Everything we see around us has a pedigree. But there was a time when something came from nothing. The cycle had to begin.

No man is an Island, entire of itself. Each is a piece of the continent… send not to know for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.

Laozi is offering us a warning about the future. Or rather, he is saying – live in the now. Dao isn't about the future – it's about the here and now.

Greed, hunger for power, for fame and fortune are all desires, but not needs. For Laozi, nothing is to be gained by giving in to your desires.

Here Laozi is trying to get across the truism that when something reaches an extreme, it is self-defeating. He sees it as an inevitable law of opposites.

In this verse Laozi is asking us to trust him, as a sage, who is showing us the way, even though we may not sense it in any way. Stop trying to ascribe attributes to Dao. That’s very human. Just be aware of its bounty.

The answers Laozi so often suggests are to be found within, through the cultivation of our thoughts rather than practical deeds.

In this verse, we have a very handy little guide to living a fulfilled life. But it's important to tread carefully to understand the nuances of his message.

It is about the nature of Dao. A little like the endless circularity of the water cycle – the sea creates clouds which drift over mountains, which cause the water within to be released, which becomes streams and rivers that ultimately flow back into the sea, and so it all starts again.