Chapter 71 – Tao Te Ching

1. The Verse (Original)

To know that you do not knowis the highest.

Not to knowyet think you knowis a disease.

Only when one recognizes this diseasecan one be free from it.

The sage is free from this disease.Because she recognizes it as a disease,she is free from it.

2. The Essence — What Laozi Is Actually Saying

This is one of Laozi’s clearest teachings on wisdom.

He says:

True wisdom begins the moment you realize how little you know.

Not in a self-deprecating way,but in a deeply honest way.

Most suffering comes from the illusion of certainty —thinking we know how things should go,what people mean,what the future holds,what everything signifies.

Laozi calls this false certainty a disease.

The cure?

To see the disease.

To realize:“Oh… my mind is pretending it knows.”

The sage isn’t wise because she has all the answers.She’s wise because she doesn’t cling to answers.

She allows reality to be bigger than her assumptions.She stays open, humble, curious —and therefore aligned with the Tao.

3. Modern Clarity — Slow, Rich, Beginner-Friendly Line-by-Line Commentary

“To know that you do not know is the highest.”

Recognizing the limits of your own understandingis not ignorance —it is clarity.

This recognition creates spaciousness.It opens the mind.It softens the ego’s grip on needing to have things figured out.

This is the highest wisdombecause it keeps you aligned with what is real.

“Not to know yet think you know is a disease.”

Here’s the danger:

The mind builds stories.Interpretations.Assumptions.False certainties.

When we mistake these stories for truth,we suffer.

We argue with reality.We cling.We fear.We push.We react.

This is the disease Laozi warns of.

“Only when one recognizes this disease can one be free from it.”

Humility is the cure.

Not shame.Not self-judgment.Just an honest seeing:

“I don’t actually know.”

The moment you see the illusion of certainty,the illusion dissolves.

Openness returns.

“The sage is free from this disease.”

The sage is not free because she has mastered everything.She is free because she releases the temptationto pretend she knows everything.

She lets life show itselfrather than forcing her mind’s version onto it.

“Because she recognizes it as a disease, she is free from it.”

Awareness is liberation.

Seeing the trapis stepping out of the trap.

Wisdom lies in this gentle, ongoing remembering.

4. IFS-Informed Understanding — The Tao Inside the Psyche

A. “Thinking you know” = Protector certainty

Many protectors believe they must know:

• to stay safe• to avoid shame• to stay in control• to prevent the unknown

Certainty becomes a shield.

But it also becomes a prison.

B. The “disease” = blending with the part that needs answers

When a part is blended,its urgency feels like truth:

“This is how it is.”“This is what they meant.”“This is what will happen.”“I KNOW.”

Blending narrows perception.

C. “Knowing you don’t know” = Unblending

A shift happens when Self steps in:

“Hmm… a part of me thinks it knows,but maybe it doesn’t.”

This opens space.Curiosity returns.Compassion appears.Clarity grows.

D. The sage’s freedom = system-wide humility

Self does not need to be right.Does not cling.Does not panic over uncertainty.

Self trusts the unfolding.This is Tao-aligned awareness.

E. The cure is awareness itself

Not analysis.Not suppression.Not shaming the protector.

Just seeing:

“A part is trying to know.”

Once seen, it softens.

This mirrors Laozi perfectly.

5. A Soft Invitation — Not Therapy, Just Curiosity

• What parts of me grasp for certainty?• What fears arise when I imagine not knowing?• Can I sense the relief in not having to know everything?• Where in life am I confusing assumptions with truth?• What opens inside me when I say, “I don’t know… yet”?

6. Closing — The Tao and IFS Share the Same Gate

Laozi’s humilityand IFS’s Self-energyspeak with one voice:

Freedom is not in knowing more —it is in loosening the grip of false knowing.

The mind’s certainty is tight, rigid, defensive.Self’s clarity is open, spacious, honest.

When you can say,with gentleness and truth,“I do not know,”the Tao flows again.

And the inner world becomesquiet, humble,and beautifully free.