The Tao is empty but inexhaustible, bottomless, the ancestor of it all.

[Starr]

Verse 4:

The Tao is empty but inexhaustible, bottomless, the ancestor of it all.

With it, the sharp edges become smooth;
the twisted knots loosen;
the sun is softened by a cloud;
the dust settles into place.

It is hidden but always present.
I do not know who gave birth to it.
It seems to be the common ancestor of all, the father of all things.

[Peni]

Verse 4 says to me The Tao encompasses EVERYTHING, good and bad. It's necessary, mysterious, immeasureable, the very Universe.
The Tao=The Way= The All-Encompassing Divine. It's not a separate Great Being from anything else because It is everything.

[Starr]

hmmm....one consciousness....together we are all whole. hmmm...