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Introduction

This verse begins with a tone of quiet provocation: the teaching is profound, yes. But it’s also simple, and the way is clear. So, why is it so difficult to live this way?

The verse doesn’t soften the problem; it’s a real one. What follows is a structural diagnosis that something in the nature of society blocks access to the depth of Integrity central to Weaving the Way.

Rather than offer a remedy or an instruction, the verse invites us to recognize that being a Weaver of the Way is a radical choice. 

Translation

I speak of the:
  Deep interchange of knowing,
  Profound exchange of action,
  And no one
  can know it
  nor enact it.

Speech has a Leige,
  Engagement has a Precedent.
    Only not-knowing!

This is why I am unknowable.
  Those who understand are few,
    so I am valuable.

This is why The Wise
  seem unrefined,
    yet
  carry jade within. 

Commentary

I speak of the:
  Deep interchange of knowing,
  Profound exchange of action,
  And “no one”
  can know it
  nor enact it. 

This verse opens with the “I know that what I’m teaching is so profound that it’s simple – but I know it’s not easy!” tone we have seen before in verse 35. In 35, we are being invited into our tendency to overlook the vibrancy of life itself, the Dao, in favor of external pleasures. Here, we are brought to recognize that Integrity demands a deep investigation into how we make sense of the world, the ongoing refinement of the organizing principles through which we do so, and the iterative embodiment of them through a dynamic interchange of knowing and acting. 

“No one can know it nor enact it” serves multiple functions. First, according to legend, the author of this text was leaving the kingdom due to frustration with the state of affairs and, likely, the lack of people who understood his teaching. Second, the stronger an identity someone carries, the less capacity they have to be in Integrity with the Way. I understand the phrase ‘no one’ here as a pointer to the fruition of practice: a person unbound by identity, open enough to dwell in the interchange of knowing and acting at the level required for true Integrity.

Speech has a Leige,
  Engagement has a Precedent.

These are the challenges, stated with a mocking irony.

Speech and Engagement have social norms that dictate our behavior, overriding our internal alignment and truth. As long as we are externally referenced, Integrity is unavailable.

Only not-knowing! 

In order to spontaneously engage life, in order to (y)in-act, we must drop beneath the conditioned patterns of “what we know” and move from and as pure presence. 

This is why I am unknowable.
  Those who understand are few,
so I am valuable. 

“I am unknowable” underscores that those living in profound Integrity cannot be predicted or pinned down. They often appear iconoclastic, non-deferential, outside value systems, and unmoved by the usual currency of social status, ego attacks, or praise.

“Those who understand are few” is a subtle shift back to the statement that it is rare to find people willing to embrace what this teaching requires: an abandonment of external reference and a full commitment to Integrity. 

Weaving the Way reverses the standard measure of value. It is an embodiment of standing outside the systems that unconsciously drive and shape us in order to be internally referenced. Refusing to cede personal authority to norms of precedence and power is the root of reform and the counter-institutional spirit. The fear of freedom is no modern affliction of the human condition; Lao Zi saw this thousands of years ago. Engaging the practices necessary to embody true freedom is as relevant now as it ever has been. 

This is why The Wise
  seem unrefined,
    yet
  carry jade within.  

Weavers of the Way seem unrefined because they intentionally refuse to “play the game.” They do not concern themselves with being polished and proper. This view holds that inaccurate self-knowledge, incoherence within oneself, disorder of our priorities, and misalignment between our thoughts, words, and deeds and our self-determined purpose are the deepest forms of betrayal. It is better to be an outcast, friendless, and impoverished than to live without integrity, coherence, order, and alignment. In society, Weavers may appear rough or unconventional, but it’s not a prerequisite. You won’t know them by their outward appearances. 

Instead, Weavers move from somatic coherence, in which thought, speech, and action are perfectly aligned. Their presence makes us feel better and causes us to rethink and reorganize our lives. The Jade Within is not hidden riches, but a quiet purity of being that radiates from them. Their refusal to conform, in service to Integrity, is their gift to the world.