The Tuesday Poem: An Excerpt From the Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu
XLVII
Without stirring abroad
One can know the whole world;
Without looking out the window
One can see the way of heaven.
The further one goes
The less one knows.
Therefore the sage knows without having to stir,
Identifies without having to see,
Accomplishes without having to act.
from the 1963 Penguin Classic edition of the Tao Te Ching;
translation © D.C. Lau
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The Tao Te Ching is one of my favourite philosophical texts. Although, like many such works, it is frequently cryptic and contains layers of meaning, the poetry also works on its own, as I hope this excerpt shows.
Lao Tzu was a Chinese poet and philosopher who is believed to have died in 531 BC.
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