The text printed on the package below, which contains a large amount of written content, is taken from a short essay titled 『THE USE OF EMPTINESS』, written by the director of Calipotatoshop. The essay reflects on the concepts of non being and being, drawing from 《Tao Te Ching (道德經)》, Chapter 11 (無之用) by Laozi. An excerpt from the original essay is provided below.

(1) INVISIBLE EXISTENCE

One of the questions that endlessly troubles us is: “Does God exist?”Because the existence of God cannot be proven directly, we believe in that being. There are things that exist yet remain unseen. For example, the matter we can currently perceive constitutes only 4% of the universe; the remaining 96% lies in a vast, unknown realm, constantly at work. Some say undiscovered fundamental particles or primordial black holes might be hidden there. Others claim this is simply the result of our incomplete understanding of gravity.

So why do we strive to prove the existence of the unseen? Humanity’s exploration of nothingness (無) is as old as its history. Curiosity about the invisible does not remain in philosophy alone. Humans have always sought to understand how unseen forces shape society and the world. Belief in such forces has extended beyond religion, forming the foundation of social order itself. In this sense, an anthropologist can be seen as one who investigates this “invisible order.” Their gaze lingers not on visible behaviors, institutions, or materials, but on the intangible forces (beliefs, rituals, symbols, taboos, and rules of exchange) that operate beneath them. Anthropology, therefore, may be regarded as a discipline that interprets the workings of non being that which seems not to exist, yet moves human life.

三十輻共一穀 當其無 有車之用 埏埴以爲器 當其無 有器之用

鑿戶牖以爲室 當其無 有室之用 故有之以爲利 無之以爲用

: Thirty spokes share one hub; because of the empty space, the wheel has use.

Clay is shaped into a vessel; because of its hollow, it becomes useful.

Doors and windows are cut to make a room; because of the void, it can be inhabited.

Therefore,being brings benefit, but non being brings use.

『TAO TE CHING』 CHAPTER 11, LAOZI

In Chapter 11 of the Tao Te Ching, Laozi urges us to pay attention not to the usefulness of being (有), but to the potential of non being (無). A wheel moves not because of its spokes, but because of the empty center. A vessel serves its function because it is hollow. Laozi does not view nothingness as absolute nonexistence, but as something we fail to recognize and therefore assume absent. Non being is what makes being possible. This perspective echoes the anthropologist’s vision. Human life endures because it continuously exchanges through absence. Just as a fishing net must have holes to catch fish, an airplane must be hollow to carry people and cargo, and a bell must be empty to ring, human existence persists through openings. To exist is to rely on what does not exist. Emptiness must be understood as the condition for life and action.

(2) ANTHROPOLOGY OF EMPTINESS AND IMPERFECT BALANCE

The universe is not built on perfect symmetry. If particles and antiparticles were perfectly matched, everything would have been annihilated, leaving nothing behind. The universe exists because that symmetry was slightly broken. Because things are imperfect, the world moves; because balance is unstable, life continues.

Human society follows the same logic. Perfect order or absolute stability does not exist. Society is sustained through the continuous loss and reconstruction of balance. Malinowski observed that within such instability, the repetition of ritual functions to stabilize society. Ritual is not a completed structure, but an act of restoring imperfect balance. Humans continually recognize lack and maintain society through actions that attempt to fill that absence.

(3) ‘THE USE OF EMPTINESS’ MEANS

The essence of wu (無) is pure equilibrium without form or direction. When this balance breaks and becomes you (有), the world begins. Human society does not remain within perfect order. We constantly recognize lack and generate meaning within that space. Imperfection is the condition of existence, and emptiness is the starting point of relationship and change. Laozi’s statement, “Being brings benefit, but non being brings use,” can be translated into anthropological language as follows: absence is the condition for relationship. Invisible order, unspoken rules, and the power of symbols are the true usefulness of non being within human society.

Humans live among invisible things. The invisible is the essence of society, and reading those gaps shapes our language and worldview. THE USE OF EMPTINESS is a way of understanding humanity, a mode of thought for interpreting unseen order.