Chapter 47

Chapter 47

Without opening your door,
you can know the whole world.
Without looking out your window,
you can understand the way of the Tao.

The more knowledge you seek,
the less you will understand.

The Master understands without leaving,
sees clearly without looking,
accomplishes much without doing anything.

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Sherlock Holmes once said:

“From a drop of water, a logician could infer the possibility of an Atlantic or a Niagara without having seen or heard of one or the other. So all life is a great chain, the nature of which is known whenever we are shown a single link of it. Like all other arts, the Science of Deduction and Analysis is one which can only be acquired by long and patient study nor is life long enough to allow any mortal to attain the highest possible perfection in it.”

Holmes says that in order to acquire the skill to “infer such a possibility,” one needs to practice through keen observations and study. Lao Tzu does not indicate, however, such intense practice is necessary. It sounds completely nonsensical that one can know the whole world when he is stuck in his room. In the times of Laozi, there was no Internet available in his shabby house made of mud. Still, he was smart enough to know affairs of society without trying to find out much what was going on. Maybe one or two pieces of news were enough for him to figure out what was going on or what was the hot issue.

I do not know whether a Laozian sage has to stay all day in his room or spend time near a river thinking while fishing, but my image of him is a physically inactive person that does not live to either speak or move. One should not interpret based on the tao te ching that he needs no exercise to live a healthy life.