Chapter 41

FORTY-ONE

The superior man, as soon as he listens to TAO, earnestly practices TAO; an average man, hearing of TAO, sometimes remembers it and sometimes forgets it; an inferior man, hearing of TAO, ridicules it. If it were not thus ridiculed it would not be worth following as TAO.

There is an old saying:--"Those who are illuminated by TAO are the most obscure; those who are advanced in TAO are the most timid; those who are indifferent to TAO are the most distinguished." The Teh of TAO resembles a deep valley; the most innocent appears to be most ashamed; the highest in teh appears the humblest; the most firmly established in teh appears the most remiss; the most straightforward seems to be the most fickle; the greatest polygon has no corners; the finest instrument is the latest to

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be perfected; the largest bell sounds rarely; the grandest phenomena are the inconceivable phenomena of spirit.

TAO is unseen and inscrutable. Nevertheless, it is precisely this TAO that alone can give and accomplish.