If we read Laozi attentively, the idea that its main purpose is to teach "the art of kings," and the importance of such phrases as "to advance is to retreat," pale into insignificance beside Laozi's intention that everyone should return to the original source of life.
熟讀老子，所謂君王之術、所謂以進為退，已於老子意在人人回歸生命本源中全然消解。