Those Who Know Do Not Speak
The Text
知者不言，言者不知。塞其兑，闭其门，挫其锐，解其纷，和其光，同其尘，是谓玄同。故不可得而亲，不可得而疏；不可得而利，不可得而害；不可得而贵，不可得而贱。故为天下贵。
Those who know do not speak; those who speak do not know. Block the openings, shut the doors; blunt the sharpness, loosen the tangles, soften the glare, merge with the dust. This is called mysterious union. One who attains it cannot be drawn close nor pushed away, benefited nor harmed, honoured nor disgraced — for that reason, noblest under heaven.
Reading it
Repeats the four verbs of ch. 4 and ch. 56 makes them social: a person processed the same way the way processes things. Mysterious union is the state where the standard levers — intimacy, harm, status — no longer grip, which is why such people end up unbuyable and unbreakable.
重复第 4 章的四个动词，而本章使其社会化：一个人像道处理万物那样被处理。「玄同」是标准杠杆——亲疏、利害、贵贱——不再咬合的状态，所以这样的人不可收买、也不可折断。
Hold one known truth this week without announcing it. Feel exactly where the urge to speak comes from.
这周守住一个已知的真相，不宣布。感受那种想说的冲动到底来自哪里。