t after knowledge: peer for signs at all the
horizons;--are eager to inquire, and avid of the Unknown--which
also we imagine to be something outside of our own being. But
suppose a man, as they say one with Tao, in which all knowledge
rests in solution: what knowledge would he desire? After what
would he be inquisitive? And how much, desiring it, would he
possess? What is the end of being, after all? To perform your
function, your duty; what men and the world,--ay, and the far
suns and stars,--are requiring of you:--that is all. Not to gain
infinite knowledge; but to have at, every step what knowledge
you need; that so you may fill your place in the Universe,
meeting all contours and flowing into them; restoring and
maintaining the Harmony of Things. So we hear much about this
performance of duty. But in reality, to do one's duty is to sing
with the singing spheres; to have the Top of Infinity for the
roof of one's skull, and the bottom of the Great Deep for
one's footsoles: to be a compendium, and the Equal, of Heaven
and Earth. The password into the Tao of Laotse is Silence;
Confucius kept the great Silence more wonderfully than Laotse
did--or so it seems to me now. Laotse said: _Sing with the
singing spheres, and behold, your duty is doing itself uder your
hands._ The password into the Tao of Confucius is _Duty:_ he
said merely _Do that, and,_--the rest is silence. He may have
played that _rest_ on his lute; we are not to hear it in his
words. There was a knowledge that Laotse, enthroned in his
silence, had no means of using; that Confucius riding the
chariot of duty, had no occasion to possess.

Now whether you call Tao _duty,_ or _silence,_--what should the
Man of Tao desire beyond the fulness of it? All the light is
there for him; all the suns are kindled for him;--why should he
light wax candles? That is, for himself: he will light them
fast enough where others may be in need. To us, a great poem may
be a great thing: but to them who have the fulness of which the
greatest poem is but a little glimpse--what should it matter to
them? And of the infinite knowledge at his disposal, would the
Man of Tao choose to burden himself with one little item of which
there was no present need?

So when they say, "Confucius was nobody; there is no evidence
that he knew the great secrets"; answer them:--"Yes, there is.
He knew that supreme secret, how to _teach,_ which is the
office of a Teacher: he kne