[H8crilA]

Interesting, as I'm getting older I realize just how much noise is out there and that I actually should be doing and knowing less, not more. A free and ready mind is an awesome resource. All the cool stuff people know? Often (not always) not that important, except as a knowledge discipline in itself / art. But I'm only in my early 30s.

[morelisp]

    Without stirring abroad
    One can know the whole world;
    Without looking out the window
    One can see the way of heaven.
    The further one goes
    The less one knows.

    Therefore the sage knows without having to stir,
    Identifies without having to see,
    Accomplishes without having to act.

(Tao Te Ching, chapter 47, D.C. Lau translation.)

[H8crilA]

This is so on point!

In case anyone thinks this is about "an old grandpa that sits on his porch and just enjoys life" or something like that - it's not. The last three lines are exactly what good leadership is.

[morelisp]

I think such a man on his porch would have a wonderfully free and ready mind.

Ursula Le Guin's rendition is maybe more impactful to the modern reader:

    So the wise soul
    doesn't go, but knows;
    doesn't look, but sees;
    doesn't do, but gets it done.

[H8crilA]

Yes. Let me correct: it's not only about that grandpa.