03 Oct Koan 125

“He who speaks does not know, he who knows does not speak.” — Lao Tzu

He who speaks is an actor in the play of life. He who know is the audience.

For actors, the play is a tragedy; as every actor eventually is scripted out of the play (dies).

For the audience, the play is a comedy. The audience is the Gods. The Gods are forever laughing at the actors (who are also Gods but often don’t remember they are) taking their selves seriously.

He who laughs cannot speak.

He who speaks is in the now. He cannot grasp the now, as a hand cannot grasp itself.

He who knows does not speak as only from the silent space outside the now can one observe and come to know the now.

He who speaks describes that which his consciousness creates; what his foveal vision carves out of peripheral vision.

He who knows does not speak, as peripheral vision defines specific description.

He who speaks creates a photo of the now.

He who knows does not speak, for the now is a movie.

He who speaks is a dot in a painting.

He who knows does not speak, for a painting is an infinite number of interdependent dots.

He who speaks does not know, as descriptions are empty; the now that’s described is now no longer.

He who knows the now does not speak, as the essence of the now is nothing.

A speaker’s words are like the finite and precise space inside a square.

The endless and everchanging now is like the imprecise space inside a circle.

He who knows does not speak, for a circle cannot be squared.