Tao Te Ching, Verse 5, Part I

“Heaven and Earth treat all creatures as they treat a straw dog:
with great kindness.
The sage treats the people as he treats a straw dog:
with great kindness.
Between Heaven and Earth there is a big void;
it is like a bag without a seam,
it is like the hole in a bamboo flute.
This void cannot be overpowered:
the more it moves, the more it yields.
Many words lead to less understanding, therefore it is best to guard the void.”
(Tao Te Ching, Verse 5, Chao-Hsiu Chen Translation)

One of the most basic facts about the universe is that it is indifferent, which reminds me of the Stephen Crane poem:

A man said to the universe:
"Sir I exist!"
"However," replied the universe,
"The fact has not created in me
A sense of obligation."

The first couple of lines in verse five acknowledge this indifference – throughout the tao, what one sees is Lao Tzu acknowledging a fact about life the universe and everything and then showing the master’s response to that fact – in this case, just as the universe is impartial and dispassionate, so is the master impartial and dispassionate – I think the key idea here is impartiality and tolerance for benign differences in others, which would be a beneficial quality to inject into world around us – the more I talk of it, the less I’ll understand, so I’ll leave you with once again with Siji Tzu’s commentary:

“Nature does not make one species evil or another pleasant. Nor does she judge the species of their actions. A bird of prey can pounce on a harmless mouse. A doe can sip from the river. Each is the same. It does not matter.”