If all goes well this post will appear while I am gone.  Neat, huh?  I thought it would be nice to reflect upon the notion of "presence" in my absence.  More seriously, the relation of presence and absence is something that is in my mind a lot these days, as I continue to ponder how Aidan continues to be a presence in my life, even in his absence.  Here’s passage 12 from the Tao Te Ching:

Thirty spokes gathered at each hub:
absence makes the cart work.
A storage jar fashioned out of clay:
absence makes the jar work.
Doors and windows cut in a house:
absence makes the house work.

Presence gives things their value,
but absence makes them work.

     If I were to challenge this passage, or perhaps just his translation, it would be on the last couplet.  Absence doesn’t just "make them work," it also give them "value."