Tao Te Ching, 20

Abandon learning and there will be no sorrow.

How much difference is there between “Yes, sir,” and “Of course not”?

How much difference is there between “good” and “evil”?

What people dread, do not fail to dread.

But, alas, how confused, and the end is not yet.

…

Common folks see differences and are clear-cut;

I alone make no distinctions.

I seem drifting as the sea;

Like the wind blowing about, seemingly without destination.

(Tao Te Ching, 20)

Today, I would try to interpret the above text from the topic " Knowing the way as Unlearning ".

The text is a proof in that Lao Tzu is promoting learning through unlearning. This is to say that a person will learn the ways of nature through unlearning or emptying the self from the teachings formed by humanity. The ways of nature is different from the teachings of humanity.

In the text, Lao Tzu says that there is no harm or there will be no bad effect if a person will try to unlearn his self from the teachings he learned from humanity because their teachings is different from the natural way. As stated as an example, humanity creates division, a distinction between races and kinds. The ways of the Tao, which is the way of nature, is not creating distinctions but creating unity and harmony between creatures. The distinction only creates chaos among them.