the short of it:
The more you learn, the more there is to learn.
48. The Oblivion of Knowledge.
Activity (an unhealthy and injurious activity) is daily increased by (efforts at) education. This same activity is daily diminished by Tau.
Diminish it, and again diminish it, till there come to be absolutely none of it left. By non-action there is nothing that may not be done. One might undertake the government of the world without ever taking any trouble. And, as for all those that take trouble, they are not competent to the government of the world.
48. ‘Forgetting Knowledge.’
48.1 [Those] who [devote themselves] to learning [seek] from day to day to increase ([their] knowledge); [those] who [devote themselves] to the Tao [seek] from day to day to diminish ([their] doing).
48.2 [They diminish] it and again [diminish] it, till [they arrive] at doing nothing (on purpose). Having arrived at this point of non-action, there is nothing which [they do] not do.
48.3 [Those] who [get] as [their] own all under heaven [do] so by giving [themselves] no trouble (with that end). If one take trouble (with that end), [they are] not equal to getting as [their] own all under heaven.
48. To Forget Knowledge.
[Those] who [attend] daily to learning [increase] in learning. [Those] who [practice] Tao daily [diminish]. Again and again [they humble themselves]. Thus [they attain] to non-doing (wu wei). [They practice] non-doing and yet there is nothing left undone.
To command the empire one must not employ craft. If one uses craft [they are] not fit to command the empire.
the long of it:
Despite the tone of Chapter 48, Lao Tsu is not advocating a global book burning. He’s simply pointing out the paradox of learning. It’s not a closed-loop system. It’s wide open. One piece of knowledge leads to another, and as long as we’re engaged with the information, it will keep cascading away from us. We’ll never get to the end of what we could be doing, or where new knowledge (and activity) will lead us.
So stop stacking food on your plate. It’s full enough.
Better to leave some room to handle life’s unexpected difficulties. Because the world will always be there, demanding to be negotiated. The only question is, do you want to negotiate it with a backpack full of gold bricks, or a fanny pack of water?
Governments, especially, should consider this. They shouldn’t overburden themselves trying to wall off human nature (by teaching morality and virtue). It’s a never-ending task. Instead, stand back, simplify, and take care of the people when things go wrong (cause things always go wrong). And a government that does this is a simple, competent, prepared government. Not a complex, incompetent, unprepared monolith.
Extra Credit:
As we established in Chapters 19 and 38, Lao Tsu uses many chapters of the Tao Te Ching to systematically deconstruct Confucianism. Chapter 48 is another of those chapters.
Here are the opening lines of The Confucian Analects, and The Great Learning, respectively:
Chapter 1.1: “The Master (Confucius) said, ‘Is it not pleasant to learn with a constant perseverance and application? Is he not a man of complete virtue?’” (Legge 137).
Chapter 1.1: “What the Great Learning teaches is: to illustrate illustrious virtue; to renovate the people; and to rest in the highest excellence” (Legge 356).
Teaching virtue (with words) is impossible (Chap 38). All it does is teach people how to enforce perceived virtue, not virtue itself. The best way to teach virtue is by example.
Chapter 48 takes things a step further. Not only is it impossible for people to teach virtue, but the teaching frame of mind is dangerous as well. Learning is a cascading activity that breeds discontent (see Chap 46). Better to simplify, because life is complex enough without spurring it on.
-TB
