Chapter 71

To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest (attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not the disease. He knows the pain that would be inseparable from it, and therefore he does not have it.

Commentary

Commentary

THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE. 1. THE DISEASE OF KNOWLEDGE. 1. To know the unknowable, that is ele vating. Not to know the knowable, that is sickness. 2. Only by becoming sick of sickness can we be without sickness. 3. The holy man is not sick. Because he is sick of sickness, therefore he is not sick. Next: 72. Holding Oneself Dear | « Previous: The Canon of Reason and Virtue (Tao te Ching): The Old Ph... Next: The Canon of Reason and Virtue (Tao te Ching): The Old Ph... »
Sources: Paul Carus (1913) - Chapter heading; Paul Carus (1913) - Canon of Reason and Virtue