Chapter 20
Give up learning and you’ll have no worries. Between a polite “yes” and a fawning “yes”—how slight the difference. Yet between good and evil—how vast the gap.
What people fear must indeed be feared; but how endless is the range of things to question!
- The crowd looks content and cheerful, as if feasting at a banquet, as if climbing a tower in spring. I alone am quiet and still, showing no sign of desire, like an infant who has not yet smiled. I look weary and lost, as if I had no home to return to. Everyone else has plenty and more; I alone seem to have lost everything. My mind is that of a fool; I am in a muddle.
Ordinary people look bright and clever; I alone seem dim. They look sharp and discerning; I alone am dull and confused. I drift as if on the sea, with nowhere to settle. Everyone has something to do; I alone seem useless, like a rough outsider. I am different from others—because I value being nourished by the mother, the Tao.
