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.

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 · 1 parallel

◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1d

“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being. Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”

Both passages explore the concept of knowing and unknowing as it relates to ultimate reality or divine truth. The Tao Te Ching emphasizes the humility of recognizing the limits of knowledge, while the second passage discusses the paradox of knowing God through both knowledge and unknowing.