Weaving the Way

Knowing not-knowing
  is noble.
Not knowing not-knowing,
  is a flaw.

I speak of the:
  Deep interchange of knowing,
  Profound exchange of action,
  And no one
  can know it
  nor enact it.

Concerning the use of force, it is said:
  “I do not act as the host,
    but as the guest.
  I do not advance an inch,
    but retreat a foot.”

Therefore,
The best knights,
  do not fight.

The best fear,
  does not react. 

The World says,
  “I’m great! Great and not petty.”

Greatness is possible,
  just by not being petty?

The Ocean River becomes
  Ruler of the Hundred Valleys
    because it dwells beneath them.
Thus it is able to rule the hundred valleys.

Thus it is said:
Those who weave the Way,
  do not do so through “conceptualizing ‘people,’”
  but through their not-knowing.

When things are stable
  it’s easy to handle them.
Before there are omens,
  planning is easy.
Something that is still fragile
  is easy to break apart.
What is emerging
  is easily scattered.

Act (y)in-action.
Engage non-reactively.
Taste tastelessness.

Dao pours into everything.
The Wise maintain it,
  The Unwise are maintained by it.