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The Tea and the Teacup
Finding meaning in what you love.
is a classic metaphor in many spiritual teachings, especially Zen, concerning tea and a teacup.
Just to keep it short it says that life there will be where you may have tea (content), but no cup (form) to pour it in. In such a case finding a cup will have great meaning for you in a way that it would not if there was no tea to pour into it.
On the other hand, there will also be times where you may have a cup (form) but no tea (content) to pour into it. Now the cup, though aesthetically pleasing, is functionally useless. Yet that cup gains meaning if there is no tea to pour into it. If there is no tea, the cup may not even be noticed. This is how it is with an idea, a thought, a passion, an interest, some innovation, or some experience. Like tea, it will have a great meaning for you in a way that it might not if there was no empty form to be filled.
Imagine Medium.com with no writers, or a writer without a place to share their work?
Meaning comes from the merging of form and function.
It appears; concerning the meaning of “meaning” that part of what it means to be a human being is to have a creative idea, a thought, a passion, or an interest — “some specific content or experience that we…
