 Laozi, as he does in many chapters of the Laozi, presents an intriguing paradox of desire and desirelessness in this passage. The passage can be interpreted in many different ways. From a contextual viewpoint, desire (yu) can be beneficial or harmful, or cultivated or eliminated as courage (yong) can be beneficial or deadly in certain situations to certain people (Laozi, 73). From a psychological viewpoint, certain aspects of desire (such as exclusive promotion of self-interest, sensual indulgence, or self-centered viewpoint) is harmful but others (such as a natural inclination to satisfy one’s basic needs) are acceptable. However, considering the significance of this chapter, i.e., the beginning chapter of the Laozi where the ultimate Way and the linguistic or conceptual limitation of properly identifying and describing it are discussed, the paradox of desire and desirelessness can be understood from the viewpoint of the intriguing relation between desire and the Way. The relation between the two can be explained in two opposite ways: desire may distort the Way (in this case, desirelessness is needed) but it helps us to initiate our journey toward the Way (in this case, desire is needed). These conflicting approaches to desire show both the limitation and the openness of desire in our journey to understand the Way. Perhaps the relation between the Way and desire can be characterized as a form of affective intentionality where emotions open up, guide, and change our emotional projection to the world and the Way. Regardless of these interpretations of desire, it is clear that Laozi’s view is not simply ascetic and eliminative toward desire, even though he cautions against its potentially harmful and destructive nature, specifically the exclusive pursuit of self-interest and self-centered viewpoint that can generate the confrontational, narrow-minded and myopic understanding of the self and others.