Verse #20: The Fool - The Nature and Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching (2024)

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The Nature and Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching: Verse #20 - The Fool
(attributed to Lao Tzu, circa 500 bce)
Original Interpretation, Written and Produced by Dana C. White, PhD
Reading by Jonathan Staggers
First Recorded and Produced in November, 2020
Re-engineered in February, 2024.
The script for this and the other 80 Tao Te Ching verses synthesize numerous translations - including the interpretations of Thomas Cleary, Giu-Fu Feng and Jane English, Ursula LeGuin, John Minford, Stephen Mitchell, Jonathan Star, and Richard Wilhelm. By comparing and contrasting the works and styles of these scholars, I hope the original intent of each verse comes through. From one verse to the next, people experiencing the Tao can observe common themes or tropes that apply to a particular verse. Thus, it is hoped you will appreciate how each verse, or chapter, of these new productions retains the character of the ancient text, while being interpreted with contemporary sensibilities. Each chapter of these new productions has been developed to retain the character of the ancient text, while being interpreted with contemporary sensibilities. Each verse, then becomes a guided meditation into the essence of existence.
Originally Produced in November, 2020
20 - The Fool
I am a guest in this world.
So humbled by the infinity of choices,
It seems there is no purpose in moving.
Others chase excitement, rushing here and there,
Filling life with purpose.
Yet, I sit here - looking inward, taking it all in.
I accept what is offered - declining to choose one thing over another.
How much distance actually lies between good and bad?
Is there really such a wide chasm between yes and no?
Are success and failure so far apart that we cannot see
That like good, bad, yes, and no - they are born from the same mother.
The mind inhabited by the ten thousand things
Keeps them all alive by feeding them -
Nourishing value as if it is virtue.
I am a fool, an idiot,
Immune to the fears and abundance driving people.
Why seek what they seek?
Why fear what others fear?
They scurry about, going places, pulling up roots and planting them
Wherever opportunities take them.
Uncentered, people rejoice, feasting on the carcass of desire.
I want none of that.
My home is here - in the emptiness of the mind.
All that we learn builds cages that we dress up to occupy ourselves,
Causing us nothing but trouble by sheltering us in meaning,
Each a phantom driven to protect us from oneness.
Clarity and thinking need languages for their constructions.
Where others seek the hard and the firm, I remain soft.
Where others find direction in the light, I receive light in the dark.
Where others become practiced, I am like a newborn -
Filled with ignorance and unmet potential.
My life is meaningless - I am as aimless as the wind,
Adrift on the uncharted sea.
I feel the waves beneath me coming and going
And welcome them without inquiry or fear
Like guests rapping on my door.
What value is there standing sentry at a gateway always open?
Why protect what cannot be taken?
Why feed myself from the markets where the crowds shop?
The storehouse of the great eternal mother is always open.
Indeed, I am different: simple and unsophisticated,
And wanting for nothing, everything is at hand.