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Tao Te Ching · 71 of 81 · tr. James Legge

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.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The highest attainment is defined by acknowledging a lack of knowing, suggesting the ultimate reality transcends positive conceptualization.

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Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The sage's state involves holding the binary of knowing and not-knowing together, transcending ordinary epistemic oppositions.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The passage centers on the paradoxical statement that knowing while thinking one does not know is the highest attainment.

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Rejection Of Hypocrisyethics

Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance.

[auto] The text explicitly critiques the 'disease' of claiming knowledge one does not possess, equating it to a form without substance.

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Self Examinationpraxis

Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice.

[auto] The passage emphasizes being pained by the thought of having the disease of ignorance as a means of preservation, implying introspection.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
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neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter II
“The hostile opposition, therefore, in the things that are now proposed, may be easily dissolved by demonstrating the dignity of wholes with 226 respect to parts, and by recalling to your recollection the exempt transcendency of the Gods abo…”
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“"In so far as a person remains in a will foreign to his true nature, and does not want to be cured of it by entering into the holy Word, this foreign being will take substance in him and hold the celestial essence in subjection; so that the…”
Shared concept: Rejection Of Hypocrisy — Critique of outward religious observance that lacks inner transformation; form without substance. (derived)
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“Therefore sanctification is the best of all things, for it cleanses the soul, and illuminates the conscience, and kindles the heart, and wakens the spirit, and girds up the loins, and glorifies virtue and separates us from creatures, and un…”
Shared concept: Self Examination — Daily review of thought and action as spiritual practice. (derived)