201] Give up your chasing after knowledge in an attempt to add credibility to your self. Become knowing![1] What is the difference between opposites like yes and no; rightness or wrongness? Can you judge with all your learning the subtle nature of these things? Where mediocre men fear to tread; should that be your limit as well?[2] What the norm considers acceptable; should that be your standard?
2] Everyone appears to be happy and excited; going to the night clubs and stadiums, celebrating the holidays and following the soap operas. As for me? These things don't interest me in the least, much less excite me. As for me, I feel perhaps as a newborn feels before it has learned the enjoyments of this world that later make it smile.
3] The people have gathered all that they need to enjoy this home of theirs. But this world is not home for me. I gather nothing.
4] My mind is like that of a simpleton,[3] it is uncluttered and mysterious. The people's minds burn bright with the concerns of this world. As for me? I remain ignorant of such things.
5] The people's minds are attentive to all of the latest trends, the newest fashions. They talk with such sophistication! As for me? I confine myself to the simple. My speech is plain. I remain unmoved like an ocean, unattached like the wind.
6] This makes me different from most people. I draw my life from the Great Harmony.
footnotes
[ 1] The more a man enters the light of understanding, the more aware he is of his own ignorance. And when the light reveals itself fully and unites with him and draws him into itself, so that he finds himself in a sea of light, then he is emptied of all knowledge and immersed in absolute unknowing.