Knowing

Hey there!

I’m back with another close reading of a poem from the Tao Te Ching. This was a quiz that we had in class and I feel that I was finally able to properly explain this poem after all the practice I had done.

Since I have done one of these poems before, and I told you about the Taoist principles, you already have a little background knowledge about it. The poem I am going to talk about is called Knowing and here it is so you can follow along..

47. Knowing

Without taking a step outdoors
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep out the window
You know the colour of the sky.

The more you experience,
The less you know.
The sage wanders without knowing,
Sees without looking,
Accomplishes without acting.http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html

When reading this poem I find that there is still the theme of nature like knowing the world and the color of the sky. I think the first section means we can know what to expect from the world without interacting with it. But then the second piece says you know less when you do experience more this could be a balance between knowing and not knowing. BY experiencing life and the world, you may come to realize that you knew less than you thought you did because there is so much to experience. In the last three lines about the sage, I think they’re saying that the sage just does things without trying to be prepared. Without this preparedness he sees thing he didn’t expect and he has also accomplished things without trying to. I think maybe by saying he has accomplished without acting, they are saying he has found the Way. The Way is free flowing and from what we have learned is not really something you can look for and just find. The sage doesn’t look for things, he simply wanders and by doing this maybe he has found the Way.

I have come to appreciate these poems more now that I am able to find the deeper meanings. You too should work on analyzing poems; it’s easier than it looks!

Well…Until next time!

Stay Classy!