20
When we renounce learning
we have no troubles.
The (ready) 'yes,' and (flattering) 'yea;'--
Small
is the difference they display.
But mark their issues, good and ill;--
What space the gulf between shall fill?
What
all men fear is indeed to be feared; but how wide and without end
is the range of questions (asking to be discussed)!
The
multitude of men look satisfied and pleased; as if enjoying a
full banquet, as if mounted on a tower in spring. I alone
seem
listless and still, my desires having as yet given no indication of
their presence.
I am like an infant which
has not yet smiled. I look
dejected and forlorn, as if I had no home to go to. The multitude of
men all have enough
and to spare. I alone seem to have lost
everything. My mind is that of a stupid man; I am in a state of
chaos.
Ordinary men look bright and intelligent, while I alone seem to be
benighted. They look full of discrimination,
while I alone am dull
and confused. I seem to be carried about as on the sea,
drifting as
if I had nowhere to rest.
All men have their
spheres of action, while
I alone seem dull and incapable, like a rude borderer. (Thus) I alone
am different from other
men, but I value the nursing-mother (the Tao).
