Chapter 56 · The Mysterious Agreement

Tao Te Ching (Legge, 1891) · chapter title added by Learn the Dao

He who knows (the Tao) does not (care to) speak (about it); he who is (ever ready to) speak about it does not know it. He (who knows it) will keep his mouth shut and close the portals (of his nostrils). He will blunt his sharp points and unravel the complications of things; he will attemper his brightness, and bring himself into agreement with the obscurity (of others). This is called 'the Mysterious Agreement.' (Such an one) cannot be treated familiarly or distantly; he is beyond all consideration of profit or injury; of nobility or meanness:--he is the noblest man under heaven.

Blending All the Way In

Dao De Kooi — an original rendering by David Kooi

The ones who know don't run their mouths. The ones running their mouths don't know. Shut the mouth, close the gates. Take the edge off, untie the knots, dim the glare, settle in with the dust. Call it blending all the way in. You can't get cozy with a person like that, and you can't freeze them out. Can't bribe them, can't hurt them, can't flatter them, can't shame them. Which is exactly why the world holds them in high regard.

Learn the Dao is a quiet practice for learning the thing that can’t be known — committing the Tao Te Ching to memory, one line at a time.

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He who knows (the Tao) does not — missed (care to) speak (about it)

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