The Use of the Useless

answered by Zhuangzi, In the World of Men

기원전 4세기경

🎬 TODAY'S FILM — IT ASKS THIS

La Strada (1954)

dir. Federico Fellini · Italy

Does even one who seems useless hold a worth that cannot be erased? A heart that belittles a presence while it is near, and grasps its weight only after losing it. Is remorse that arrives too late of no use — or does even that keep a person human?

THE QUESTION THE FILM ASKS

Measuring people only by usefulness, am I missing the ineffaceable worth of a presence beside me?

THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER · ORIGINAL

無用之用

人皆知有用之用而莫知無用之用也

📜 THE CLASSIC'S ANSWER

All know the use of the useful, but none know the use of the useless.

💡 TL;DR

Zhuangzi said even what looks useless has its use — a reversal of the gaze that reduces everything to utility.

📝The Classic Answers

Zhuangzi said even what looks useless has its use — a reversal of the gaze that reduces everything to utility. Measure people only by usefulness, and the worth of a presence that seemed trivial shows itself only after it is lost. Late remorse cannot bring him back, yet it at least teaches what my eyes had missed. Before setting the person beside me on the scale of utility, I choose first to see the weight of that presence, which no scale can measure.

— ONGO · Curator

🌱Apply It Today

If you deemed someone or something 'useless' today, look again for a worth in it that no utility can measure.

📖 Classic Source: Zhuangzi, In the World of Men. Ancient text in the public domain; rendered and interpreted independently by ONGO.
The film is honored as an equal questioner; its plot is rendered only as a universal dilemma. The classic source is an ancient text (Public Domain), and the reflection is 100% original ONGO content.