--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: We must go down to the very fundamentals…" description: "\"“We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. For any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs unsatisfied is as ineffect..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/i-ching-2-55168_adequacy_we-must-go-down-to-the-very-fundamentals_1899662.jpg" --- # We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. For any… ![“We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. For any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs unsatisfied is as ineffectual as if no attempt at order had ever been made.” quote by I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/i-ching-2-55168_adequacy_we-must-go-down-to-the-very-fundamentals_1899662.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/i-ching-2-55168_adequacy_we-must-go-down-to-the-very-fundamentals_1899662.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/59b/i-ching-2-55168_adequacy_we-must-go-down-to-the-very-fundamentals_1899662.jpg) > ““We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. For any merely superficial ordering of life that leaves its deepest needs unsatisfied is as ineffectual as if no attempt at order had ever been made.”” [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Superficial order fails to meet deep human needs; true fulfillment requires addressing fundamental life necessities. **In simple terms:** Surface order isn’t enough; meet core needs. Key Takeaway Prioritize fundamental needs over superficial structures. Themes well‑being authenticity depth life balance Mood thoughtful serene Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - healthcare planning - education reform - personal goal setting - community building Key Concepts Fundamental needs order ineffectual superficial Questions to Reflect On - What are your deepest unmet needs? - How can you integrate fundamentals into daily life? A Different Perspective The quote may overlook the value of incremental improvements. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Disequilibrium](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/disequilibrium/) [I-ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/i-ching/) [Life](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/life/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) ## Related quotes > [For nearly a quarter of a century, I have been engaged in the investigation of the fundamentals of life, the material universe and human…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-ron-hubbard/for-nearly-a-quarter-of-a-century-i-have-been-engaged-in-the/) [L. Ron Hubbard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-ron-hubbard/) > [“With Cosmic Ordering life is a field of unlimited possibilities.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-richards/with-cosmic-ordering-life-is-a-field-of-unlimited-possibilities/) [Stephen Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-richards/) > [Oh righteous doom, that they who make Pleasure their only end, Ordering the whole life for its sake, Miss that whereto they tend. While…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/eug-ne-ionesco/oh-righteous-doom-that-they-who-make-pleasure-their-only-end-ordering/) [Eugene Ionesco](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/eug-ne-ionesco/) > [“When life is tough, use Cosmic Ordering. When life is great, use Cosmic Ordering.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stephen-richards/when-life-is-tough-use-cosmic-ordering-when-life-is-great-use-cosmic/) [Stephen Richards](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stephen-richards/) > [It is now clear that science is incapable of ordering life. A life is ordered by values.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jawaharlal-nehru/it-is-now-clear-that-science-is-incapable-of-ordering-life-a-life-is/) [Jawaharlal Nehru](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jawaharlal-nehru/) > [“One of the deepest needs of the human soul is for centeredness . . . which confers meaning on the shapelessness of temporal existence.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-everson/one-of-the-deepest-needs-of-the-human-soul-is-for-centeredness-which/) [William Everson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-everson/) > [Jesus meets every one of our deepest needs. And what we need to do is accept his gift of a pastor-given, purposeful living home…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/jesus-meets-every-one-of-our-deepest-needs-and-what-we-need-to-do-is/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [One of our deepest needs is to be at home.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/timothy-radcliffe/one-of-our-deepest-needs-is-to-be-at-home/) [Timothy Radcliffe](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/timothy-radcliffe/) > [“Having received all the kindness and tender-heartedness and forgiveness we need from God, we become free to give to others without risk, because our…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/tullian-tchividjian/having-received-all-the-kindness-and-tender-heartedness-and/) [Tullian Tchividjian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/tullian-tchividjian/) > [“He wants us to understand that we don’t need all the things we’re drawing from our own wells, we don’t need all these things…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cherie-hill/he-wants-us-to-understand-that-we-don-t-need-all-the-things-we-re/) [Cherie Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/cherie-hill/) > [“The deepest needs my lifetime through Were all met on the cross by You. What more could anyone do?”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stormie-omartian/the-deepest-needs-my-lifetime-through-were-all-met-on-the-cross-by/) [Stormie Omartian](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/stormie-omartian/) > [He created the church to meet your five deepest needs: a purpose to live for, people to live with, principles to live by, a…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rick-warren/he-created-the-church-to-meet-your-five-deepest-needs-a-purpose-to/) [Rick Warren](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rick-warren/) > [We have friend who'll never leave,who's closer than a brother,he's there to meet our deepest needs,to comfort like no other..](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/we-have-friend-who-ll-never-leave-who-s-closer-than-a-brother-he-s/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [“One can never scheme for meeting the right person. It is always by chance, an accident, but you know it's the special one because…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/duncan-fallowell/one-can-never-scheme-for-meeting-the-right-person-it-is-always-by/) Duncan Fallowell > [“Perhaps everything terrible is, in its deepest being, something that needs our love.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rainer-maria-rilke/perhaps-everything-terrible-is-in-its-deepest-being-something-that/) [Rainer Maria Rilke](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rainer-maria-rilke/) ## More by I-Ching > [“Before a man can become great, he must look foolish to the crowd.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-ching-2/before-a-man-can-become-great-he-must-look-foolish-to-the-crowd/) [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) > [“Chaos is another name for opportunity”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-ching-2/chaos-is-another-name-for-opportunity/) [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) > [“To strengthen what is right in a fool is a holy task”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-ching-2/to-strengthen-what-is-right-in-a-fool-is-a-holy-task/) [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) > [“Things that accord in tone vibrate together. Things that have affinity in their inmost natures seek one another. Water flows to what is wet,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-ching-2/things-that-accord-in-tone-vibrate-together-things-that-have-affinity/) [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) > [“The ceaseless interplay of heaven and earth gives form to all things. The sexual union of male and female gives life to all things.…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i-ching-2/the-ceaseless-interplay-of-heaven-and-earth-gives-form-to-all-things/) [I-Ching](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) [Explore all 6 I-Ching quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/i-ching-2/) ## More Adequacy quotes > [The pragmatist turns away from abstraction and insufficiency, from verbal solutions, from bad a priori reasons, from fixed principles, closed systems, and pretended absolutes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-james/the-pragmatist-turns-away-from-abstraction-and-insufficiency-from/) [William James](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-james/) > [Adequacy is sufficient.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/adam-osborne/adequacy-is-sufficient/) [Adam Osborne](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/adam-osborne/) > [To try to be happy is to try to build a machine with no other specification than that it shall run noiselessly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/to-try-to-be-happy-is-to-try-to-build-a-machine-with-no-other/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [If we respect students abilities to define their own experiences, to generate their own hypotheses, and to discover new ways of categorizing the world,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ellen-langer/if-we-respect-students-abilities-to-define-their-own-experiences-to/) [Ellen Langer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ellen-langer/) > [My whole academic career was totally out of Jewish anxiety, and issues surrounding achievement and adequacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ram-dass/my-whole-academic-career-was-totally-out-of-jewish-anxiety-and-issues/) [Ram Dass](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ram-dass/) > [The refusal to belong to any school of thought, the repudiation of the adequacy of any body of beliefs whatever, and especially of systems,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kaufmann/the-refusal-to-belong-to-any-school-of-thought-the-repudiation-of-the/) [Walter Kaufmann](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kaufmann/) > [The glory does not lie in our inadequacy, but lies in the adequacy of Christ discovered in our weakness and in our insufficiency.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alistair-begg/the-glory-does-not-lie-in-our-inadequacy-but-lies-in-the-adequacy-of/) [Alistair Begg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alistair-begg/) > [To the best of my knowledge, every acute inpatient ward offers some inpatient group therapy experience. Indeed, the evidence supporting the efficacy of group…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/irvin-d-yalom/to-the-best-of-my-knowledge-every-acute-inpatient-ward-offers-some/) [Irvin D. Yalom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/irvin-d-yalom/) > [“Mere adequacy is never adequate.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/john-lanchester/mere-adequacy-is-never-adequate/) [John Lanchester](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/john-lanchester/) > [Way back in the day, when I first started and had delusions of adequacy as a cartoonist, I would listen to music. When I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/alan-moore/way-back-in-the-day-when-i-first-started-and-had-delusions-of/) [Alan Moore](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/alan-moore/) > [He had delusions of adequacy.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/walter-kerr/he-had-delusions-of-adequacy/) [Walter Kerr](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/walter-kerr/) > [Adequacy is the enemy of excellence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/peter-drucker/adequacy-is-the-enemy-of-excellence/) [Peter Drucker](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/peter-drucker/) > [Henceforth the adequacy of any military establishment will be tested by its ability to preserve the peace.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/henry-a-kissinger/henceforth-the-adequacy-of-any-military-establishment-will-be-tested/) [Henry A. Kissinger](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/henry-a-kissinger/) > [Everyone wants rather to be pleasing to women and that desire is not altogether, though it is very largely, a manifestation of vanity. But…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-robert-oppenheimer/everyone-wants-rather-to-be-pleasing-to-women-and-that-desire-is-not/) [J. Robert Oppenheimer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-robert-oppenheimer/) > [It is not his business to argue men into faith, for that cannot be done; but it is his business to demonstrate the intellectual…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/j-i-packer/it-is-not-his-business-to-argue-men-into-faith-for-that-cannot-be/) [J. I. Packer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/j-i-packer/) Browse all 48 Adequacy quotes ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“We must go down to the very fundamentals of life. 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