Is the glass half full or half empty?
Reading the Tao Te King, we realize that the glass is never half full or half empty.
Today’s Question by Jeremy
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
Annie , annie ,
pense à la Russie et bois et jette le verre par dessus ton épaule ( je penserai à toi )
Think in Russia, drink and break the glass by above your shoulder (I shall think of you)
My boss once said. You always see the glass half empty, my first reaction was to get angry, but then in stead of getting angry I replied to her that as she always sees the glass half full at least together we see the glass as it is.
cheers Do
“A glass of water is Half full or half empty”
Let me broke down this statement into main elements which makes up the actual sentences. There are two important elements “Glass and Water” and two other elements “Half and Full”. Now it looks little easy.
Glass
Water
Half
Full
Now let us think the meaning of these two different opinions. “Glass and Water”. A glass is one element and water is another. If we put water in the glass the water will fill inside the glass and it takes it space inside the glass. The water has space. or in scientific term volume. A glass has the structure which enables the water’s volume to be inside it. Now, Let us jump to the point from the perspective of the observer- When a observer sees the glass of the water, then it depends upon his transitional state of emotions.
Let us suppose, he is thirsty and he does not want to think on the glass or the water. What would he do? He will drink the water in the glass. Simple. Now let us suppose, he is not thirsty and he has some problems because just today morning he fight with his wife. His wife went to the bar with some other men. He is alone and sad. He does not have any opinion on anything. He goes to the resturant and there he saws the glass with half empty glass of the water inside the glass. He is angry and he asks the waiter to fill it.
Now let us look in the different perspective again, Let us say the observer is very happy today and he heard from his wife that he is going to be a father. He goes back to the same resturant and he sees the glass of the water which is half empty but he does not care simply because he is happy and cheerful. He drinks the water inside the glass.
This is one way of looking at the feelings of the observer with the glass of water. There is another way of looking at the same statement.
Who is called the optimistic? Who is called the pessimistic? The optimistic can sometime be pessimistic and pessimistic and be sometime optimistic. It all depends on the time and circumstances. The good time can turn into bad and bad into good. There are never reliable map to unexplored territory and events in life.
Today I am positive and tomorrow I will be negative. No one can live life positively and no one can live life negatively. There needs a certain balance in any of the circumstances.
When something is too much then it vanishes. Imagine a Mountain and there are two people who are climbing the mountain from the two different direction. One side is the boy and the other side is the girl. These people have met in the ground zero where they know each other. They want to progress in there friendship. They want to foster there relationship. They talk, interact while they are climbing the mountain. They are slowly moving on in there life but at the same time they are also building a foundation for there life:love together. There mission is to reach at the top of the mountain and say the final word which all the men say when they get married.” Yes, I do”. There decision is determined by there determination and hard work.
When they reach at the top, they speak out there heart and say what they really were missing to say since they were climbing the mountains from two different perspective. After the final countdown, they have to climb down the mountain. There cannot stay there for a long. Because there home is in Ground zero near the base. Now think- why they have to fall down? Should not they stay there at the top forever? They are so happy when they just reached the top and expressed there feelings. Why do they have to come down to the earth?
Therefore, there is always the unreliable perspective on any events, culture, country, race, religion and opinions. For me something or somebody can be very nice but again, for others it might be different.
Half full or half empty has one thing in common “half”. As in the mountain the story above. Full and Empty are our perspective and transition of thoughts accumulated by time and circumstance.
Change brings those transition depending upon the time.
orly ,
full one : il faut penser à laisser une petite place pour une nouvelle chose …
( ou alors je dis : vite vite buvez afin que l’on remplisse votre verre d’un nouveau nectar … )
car ce qui fut était et ce qui sera EST
Orly
you said “full one” : It is necessary to think of leaving a small place for a new thing …
( Or then I say: fast fast drink so that we fill your glass of a new nectar)
because what was what was and what will be IS
does it really matter if the glass is half full or half empty? i think what really matters is…
Are you thirsty?
Jessica,
I agree with you completely, if we always result to optimism, then we will never see what can be improved and worked on. It also leaves no room to fulfill our desires.
In a way, we should all just empty the glass immediately upon filling it. That way, we always have something new and exciting in our lives.
I have heard this before but I don’t remember where. If you want to better yourself or live a better life, take an empty glass and put it on a table when you wake up in the morning. When you come home fill it up with an amount of water according to how close you are to your goal. Once you have reached that goal and filled the cup, empty the glass out and start all over again.
in my life usually the glass is almost full, and i thank G-d for this special glass, but i believe that its a matter of choice , and we in our life choose the kind of glass we want to have,
so I CHOOSE THE FULL ONE!!!!!!!!
The glass is within the soul -how you see it ,is how your future will be – half emptied or half full ..Blessings Tania
herman vilar ,
c’est un peu cela , parfois l’esprit ne voit qu’une chose alors qu’il existe autre chose ( dans une même image : parfois on voit le vase , parfois on voit 2 visages )
-> cela nous amène donc à dire = affiner notre perception du monde , regarder différemment , agir différemment , afin de “goûter ” la vie différemment
( si tous sont assis , reste debout et voit : voit autre chose , et vis autre chose )
It is a little it, sometimes the spirit sees only a thing while there is the other thing (in the same image: sometimes we see the vase, sometimes we see 2 faces)
- > it thus brings us to tell = to refine our perception of the world, to look differently, to act differently, “to enjoy” the life differently
( If all sit, you stand up and sees: see some other thing, and life other thing)
Well, I guess I depends in what kind of state of mind we will get that glass.
Monika,
I like the idea that the state of the glass is merely transitional. I think, on a greater level, what makes it transition is your mindset at the time. If I have been suffering from something or another and look at a half filled glass, I will probably say that this glass is half empty. If I come back to the same glass too weeks later when things have turned around and I am happy, I would say the glass is half full.
Moreover, perspective allows us to contemplate the glass more carefully. If it is half filled in my mind, completely equal, I could have the will to fill it back up or be so miserable as to drain it to the bottom. Either way, its all perspective.
one day the psychologist of our organization asked me such question as well,,,
the purpose was to identify if the person is optimist or pessimist one…seeing the water half in the glass the optimistic person says is it half full,but pessimist one responds that it is half empty:)
Regards
Shabnam
the glass is full of air and water! And so never can be empty.
Love,
Mirjam
There is no glass, therefore it is neither full nor empty.
Haven´t you blokes seen matrix?
Hernan
It depends on the perception. The pessimist would see it half empty while the optimist would see it half full,but the realist would see it in the state it exists n probably top it with booze and ice!!!
It does not matter….I will drink the water when thirsty and fill the glass again when is time to drink, so it is fresh and cold…ice on mine please…:-))
Ok,those are make believes.To describe an optimistic person,we say he saw the glass half full.?We might be neither optimistic nor pesimistic?well,think I didnt get it,that time.
Half full or half empty – keep in mind both are only transitional stages!
Un arbre d’une grand circonférence est né d’une racine aussi déliée qu’un cheveu ; une tour de neuf étages est sortie d’une poignée de terre ; un voyage de mille lis à commencé par un pas ! ( Tao Te king – livre 2 / 64 )
j’ai foi en l’avenir car du peu renait parfois le grand
A tree of big one circumference arose from a root so loose as a hair; a nine-storeyed tower went out of a handle of ground; a journey of one thousand lilies in begun with a step! (Tao Te king – deliver 2 / 64)
I have faith in the future because of renait little sometimes the big
être honorable n’est pas une gloire
rester 2 demi verres parfois n’est pas concevable
se taire quand on voudrait crier , dire l’inexplicable quand on ne peut expliquer , être compris mais comment faire ? , agir mais par où commencer , ou laisser faire car l’équilibre c’est le plein mais aussi le vide , et que je ne sais pas tout ( parfois le vide aide le plein )
espérer à nouveau être bien guidée , mais le temps de l’Unité est si intemporel …
To stay 2 half glasses sometimes is not conceivable
Keep silent when we would like to shout, to say the inexplicable when we cannot explain, be understood but how can it be done?
Act but by where to begin, or let make because the balance it is the height but also the space, and because I do not know everything (sometimes the space helps the height)
To hope again to be guided well, but the time of the Unity is so timeless…
As a chinese ,I haven’t read Tao Te King(《道德经》）yet. Now I think it’time for me to read now.
道冲，而用之或不盈
livre 2 – 42 : “un souffle immatériel forme l’harmonie”
depuis fin 2007 je sais que 2009 sera terrible pour certains , mais oh combien bénéfique à la fois pour d’autres
j’espère tant que leur conviction d’une base stable du matériel soit remise en cause dès le printemps 2010 , et qu’ils tireront leçon de cela
mais comme l’homme oublie vite , il est indispensable de construire en 2009 de nouvelles bases solides et DURABLES : CHACUN D’ENTRE NOUS SE DOIT D’AGIR MÊME à UN FAIBLE NIVEAU = TOUT EST BON
je ne sais pas comment , je sais qu’il faut , je sais que c’est un tournant pour l’humanité , je ne sais pas tout , mais je sais
(et vous savez , parfois je me dis qu’il serait plus facile pour moi de ne pas savoir certaines choses ( et cela depuis que je suis toute petite )
Book 2 – 42: ” an immaterial breath trains(forms) the harmony ”
Since the end of 2007 I know that 2009 will be terrible for some, but oh how much beneficial at once(at the same time) for the others
I hope so much that their conviction of a stable base of the material is questioned from spring, 2010, and that they will learn from it
But as the man forgets fast, it is indispensable to build in 2009 new SOLID AND LONG-LASTING bases: EACH OF US OWES ACT EVEN in A LOW LEVEL = EVERYTHING IS GOOD
I do not know how, I know that it is necessary, I know that it is a bend for the humanity, I do not know everything, but I know
And you know, sometimes I say to myself that it would be easier for me not to know certain things (and it since I am quite small)
Tao Te king – livre 2 : l’Unité
c’est ma crainte aujourd’hui , la fragilité de l’Unité est , et comment la consolider ?
je ne détiens pas les clés , je suis tellement ignorante devant cette entité
je sais que l’énergie de l’amour peut renverser des montagnes
je sais que l’on doit faire et pas seulement penser : agir
je suis inquiète et confiante
Tao Te king – Deliver 2: the Unity
It is my fear today, the fragility of the Unity is, and how to strengthen it?
I do not detain keys, I am so ignorant in front of this entity
I know that the energy of the love can knock down mountains
I know that we have to make and not only think: act
I am worried and confident
le “tao” est présent partout et il est grand
il est invisible mais j’aimerai tant le montrer
il n’est pas nommable mais j’aimerai tant vous le décrire et le nommer afin de vous l’identifier
il est le tout et nous sommes le tout en lui
il est l’origine et nous sommes en mouvement
il est et je tente d’être
seule la deuxième naissance me permet de le “voir” , de “l’entendre” et de le “comprendre” ( enfin on essaie !!! )
The “tao” is present everywhere and it is big
it is invisible but I shall so much like showing it
it is not nommable but I shall so much like describing it to you and to name him to identify him to you
it is the whole and we are quite in him
It is the origin and we are in movement
it is and I try to be
only the second birth allows me “to see” him, ” to hear” him and “to understand” him (finally we try!!!)
The glass is always … full of ..HOPE.
LOVE,
THELMA
lecture de tao te king : ” je remonte mes manches , il y a encore tant à faire : ahah !! ” “allez au boulot !
“Reading of tao te king: ” I go back up my sleeves, there is still so much to make: ahah!! ” ” Go to the job! “
The half full glass has been empty and the half empty glass has been full …
avant de lire le livre ‘Tao te king’ dont j’ai trouvé le lien sur internet , je dirai :
le verre est plein , entier de 2 parties qui lui sont nécessaire et dont l’invisible est aussi indispensable que le visible , et l’essentiel est dans le regard et l’utilisation dans l’équilibre
je suis plein et aussi vide mais cela me réjouit d’être l’un et l’autre
(et une note d’humour : tching tching pour la santé de la nouvelle année : un peu de vide pour un grand plein ah ah , un grand plein de tout , un grand plein pour l’amour de tout , un bon vide à remplir à nouveau pour un nouveau plein bientôt )
Before reading the book ‘ Tao te king ‘ the link of which I found on internet, I shall say:
The glass is full, integer of 2 parts which are him necessary and whose invisible is also indispensable as the visible, and the main part is in the glance and the use in the balance
I am full and so empty but it delights me to be both
( And a note of humor: tching tching for the health of the new year: a little of space for a big height ah ah, a big height of everything, a big height for the love of everything, a good space to be again filled for a new height soon)
Tao Te king = http://taoteking.free.fr/interieur.php3?chapitre=1
oh tant de choses j’ignore encore … pourtant mon esprit me dit “tu sais que tu ne sais pas , et ça tu le sais ; mais ton intuition sait pour toi et te guidera ”
Oh so many things I still ignore nevertheless my spirit says to me ” you know that you do not know, and that you know it; but your intuition knows for you and will guide you “