Translation

Without going out the door we can know all under heaven.
Without looking out the window we can see Nature’s way.
He goes out farther, he realizes less,
Accordingly, the wise person goes nowhere yet knows.
Sees nothing yet understands.
Refrains from acting yet accomplishes..

no (not) go or come out (exceed; put forth) door (household; family; (bank) account) know (realize; tell; knowledge) land under heaven.

no (not) peep (spy) window see (catch sight of) sky (heaven; weather; nature; God) road (way, principle; speak; think).

his (its, he, it, that; such) go or come out (exceed; put forth) full (overflowing; more) far (distant; remote), his (its, he, it, that; such) know (realize; tell; knowledge) full (overflowing; more) few (little; less; be short)

<gram.> is (correct, <formal> this; that) use (take; so as to_and; as well as) sage (wise man) no (not) go (be current; prevail; do) <conj.>) know (realize; tell; knowledge).

no (not) see (appear, become visible) <conj.> bright (light; clear; open; honest; understand).

no (not) do (act as; be, mean; support) <conj.> accomplish (become; result).

Original

不出户知天下。
不窥牖见天道。
其出弥远，
其知弥少。
是以圣人
不行而知。
不见而明。
不为而成。

Commentary, June 2010

What if the world we see ‘out there’ is simply a reflection of ourselves (who we are ‘in here’). That is my sense of it, and this chapter points that way. Only by knowing yourself, the ‘in here’, can you know the ‘out there’. Put another way, what we see ‘out there’ is merely a reflection of what is ‘in here’. Therefore, through knowing one’s self, one can know all under heaven without going out the door.

Going here and there and everywhere is often a way of distracting yourself, avoiding the uncomfortable unknown (fear and uncertainty) you inevitably face ‘in here’. How can something so straightforward and simple be so ‘invisible’? I can only assume that nature doesn’t want us to look ‘in here’ all that much. And even when we do, we tend to judge what we see ‘in here’ by the apparent reality we believe exists ‘out there’. The irony is overwhelming at times!

The further one goes, the less one knows may parallel my recent Why Do Idiot Savants Run Things? post. Looking farther ‘out there’ narrows one’s view. You see more of less, and less of more. If knowing is about having a sense of the Mystery upon mystery ‘big picture’, then a narrower view means knowing more about less. This is the classic, ‘not seeing the forest for the trees’. Why would one go farther and farther anyway? Going farther is a symptom; we go farther when we don’t know contentment (have enough of what we desire or value). Therefore, rewording this as, “the less one knows, the farther one goes” may be more accurate, from a symptom’s point of view anyway.

More can be accomplished by being patient and letting nature takes its course. Of course, this is very hard to do. A ‘just get it done’ instinct drives us to resolve uncertainty, settle issues and be done with it so we can go on to the next ‘greener pasture’. Haste makes waste is no empty saying. To forgo the ‘greener pastures’ and live ‘in here’ now requires a truer understanding of life.

A truer understanding of life naturally arises from self understanding. Without self understanding what can one really know, how can one interpret experience wisely? The more one tries to go somewhere and do something to gain self understanding, the less chance they will find it, directly anyway (yes, in the end, ‘all roads lead to Rome’). Self understanding is found within; one need go nowhere, do nothing.

Obviously, the next question is: What is self understanding really? I boil that down to self honesty and digging down into my sense of life priorities – what do I truly want out of life over the long term? A motto of mine⁽¹⁾ speaks to this: ‘Short term pleasure attracts long term pain. Short term pain attracts long term pleasure’. The more I know what I truly want of life, the more the later guides my moment.

⁽¹⁾ This motto goes back to my years in Japan; a time of serious self examination. I find it as true today as ever, and helps me not second guess life as much as I might otherwise perhaps.