The poems of the Tao Te Ching were very interesting and extremely fun to read. The poems were, by definition, different in theme but when you look at them as a collective, you see the basis of the moral code of the religion itself. The poems are filled with these ideas that all flow together but are so far apart at the same time. I can see why it was so popular.
One of the the poems that I think encapsulates what I am trying to say is the 5th poem. In essence, it is talking about the how in the end, no sides are being taken because it does not matter. There are thousands of things that look the same, like humans for example. Although each individual looks different, like they could have a unique location for a mole, or some have six fingers on one hand, when you look at humans as a species, as a collective, one starts to see that they are not as different as they seem. They all share a similar framework, a common way of communication, and so much more that could be defined by a loose definition. The poem is trying to reinforce the idea of the collective, which is something that is still common in Chinese culture – one could infer that the ideas of the Tao Te Ching had a lasting impact on Chinese culture hundreds of years later.