If you put more than 5 distinct colors into any “look”
it will be too much for the human eye.
So sayeth Lao Tzu’s original Tao Te Ching.
Now, I’m no Tim Gunn, but I can appreciate
when an ancient poem suggests
that I take an editing eye to things.

5 notes of music deafens the ear, he says.
Well, if you’re following tertian harmony,
once you add on that fifth note (the 9th),
you’ve started adding dissonance into your chord.
You’d better be playing jazz.

5 ingredients are all you need to make the most invigorating food.

Heck, hunting for rare ingredients will drive you crazy, and it leads some folks to do bad stuff.

Therefore, the wisest among us seek to fill our bellies, instead of constantly hoping to create what we just saw on Food Network, no matter how fantastic it looked on the TV.

The magic delicious goodness levels of our imaginations do not equal the difference in actual price paid: either in money, time spent, or frustration.

(And for those who need it spelled out directly: It’s not about food when you’re hungry for more than that. Care for your current needs with what you have available to you, rather than ignoring what you have, constantly hoping for more and continuing to suffer.)