The Art of Silently Crafting Lasting Influence
My favorite college professor taught the best life lesson.
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Nothing is more annoying than walking across campus and seeing someone with a microphone yelling at a crowd of agitated college kids. During my time at the University of North Texas, the yeller was usually someone from Denton Bible Church, a prominent Christian church just a few minutes down University Drive.
I remember one particular day when I decided to stop and listen instead of zoning out in my headphones—not like I could completely drown out his yelling with my iPod earphones anyway.
The fastest way to gather a crowd of people around you is to talk about sex and how everyone is going to hell. It worked. Around 100 young adults gathered, leaving a large space for the speaker to pace around. Looking back, it reminds me of an internet troll in real life. For those who don’t know, an internet troll is someone whose only purpose for commenting on content is to cause controversy. They may not believe their own message, but they might. That not-knowing is part of the trick. So is making everyone mad. The more clicks and views the comment receives, the happier the troll becomes.
The church speaker that day was in a similar position, although he was brave enough to show his face, albeit behind a pair of sunglasses and a cop standing next to him for crowd control.
He complained about our sex lives and how we shouldn’t have them, gay marriage (illegal in Texas then), and the legality of abortion—the standard talking points for the Christian movement in 2005.
After listening for a few minutes, I noticed my rhetoric professor was watching from the edge of our nearby language arts building. As a skilled and dangerous orator, I knew Professor Treat had opinions that didn’t match the speakers’. I approached and asked, “Are you going to say anything to him? I’m sure you could talk circles around this guy, professor.”
He glanced at me with a side eye and said with a chuckle, “No.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because it won’t serve a purpose. Even if I said something he didn’t know, or proved a logical fallacy in his reasoning, he could just save face by lying about it or claiming ‘God’s will.” And with that, Dr. Treat parted ways with the annoying speaker.
I’ll never forget that afternoon. In my agitated and excited state, I was ready for battle! Dr. Treat and I on one side, and the annoying little man in sunglasses on the other. A battle of wits and brains! Looking back, I’m sure I would have made a fool of myself if I had engaged with the speaker.
No one needs to stand on a sidewalk, yelling their beliefs, hoping to convince someone of their worldview. You only need to lead by example. The people in your life—friends, family, co-workers— they already know you and your actions.
If you want to share your beliefs or way of life with someone, put yourself into their world and let your nature shine through the haze. Laozi, the author of Tao Te Ching, the seminal text of Taoism, knew this and wrote about it in chapter 56.
To discover how and why, I’ll use Derek Lin's translation, which unpacks not only the words but also the chapter's Chinese form.
Let’s get into it.
Derek Lin
Those who know do not talk
Those who talk do not know知者不言，言者不知
Zhì zhě bù yán, yán zhě bùzhī
This is my favorite quote from the Tao Te Ching, but it’s often used as a weapon online, especially on forums like Reddit. Anytime a learner expresses a belief, it’s immediately met with this quote as a rebuttal. Online trolls use it as a kind of ace-of-spades, the instantly win playing card.
However, as we read onward, the following line allows us to see its true meaning. Not as a weapon, but as guidance.
Derek Lin
Close the mouth
Shut the doors
Blunt the sharpness
Unravel the knots
Dim the glare
Mix the dust
This is called mystic oneness塞其兑，閉其門，挫其銳，解其分，和其光，同其塵，是謂玄同
Sāi qí duì, bì qí mén, cuò qí ruì, jiě qí fèn, hé qí guāng, tóng qí chén, shì wèi xuán tóng
The key in this verse is the repetitive direction to undo or lessen. Close mouths, doors, dull sharp tools, and more are just a few of the examples from 2,500 years ago, but can you think of others in your own life that we can undo? Turn off your phone, put down your tablet, turn off your TV, and don’t see that one friend who keeps convincing you to make decisions you always regret. So, what is mystic oneness?
The four symbols are “shì wèi,” (that is) “xuán” (mysterious) “tóng” (same). However, just as “shì wèi” means “That is” when taken together, xuán tóng together represent a deep-rooted Taoist concept and are not meant as two distinct words. This Oneness occurs when all forms of division are overcome—a state of profound unity. When we lose self/other, subject/object, good/bad, and other dualities, we align ourselves with the natural flow of Tao. Now that we understand Oneness, let’s revisit the first verse, but modify it with our new understanding.
Those who know Oneness don’t speak of it; they live and feel it.
Those who must talk to express oneness don’t have it.
They don’t have it because words are not from the Tao. Words are simple sounds humans created for communication and coordination. A tree is not “tree” in the Tao. I know this is true because 1,000 languages call trees something else. If a name were universal, each language would maintain the word, as its obviousness would be apparent.
Derek Lin
They cannot obtain this and be closer
They cannot obtain this and be distant
They cannot obtain this and be benefited
They cannot obtain this and be harmed
They cannot obtain this and be valued
They cannot obtain this and be degraded
故不可得而親，不可得而踈；不可得而利，不可得而害；不可得而貴，不可得而賤
Gù bùkě dé ér qīn, bùkě dé ér shū; bùkě dé ér lì, bùkě dé ér hài; bùkě dé ér guì, bùkě dé ér jiàn
It’s important to note that each translation of the above passage differs significantly from the others. Each translator attempts to “bring the message home” by adapting its meaning, particularly with the first line. Here are just a few examples.
David Hinton
It can’t be embraced and can’t be ignored,
Gia-Fu Feng
He who has achieved this state
Is unconcerned with friends and enemies
Stephen Mitchell
Be like the Tao.
It can’t be approached or withdrawn from
The Chinese does not contain the word for ‘he’ as in Gia-Fu Feng’s, or ‘Tao’ as in Stephen Mitchell’s. Notice the repetition of 不可 (bùkě) in each statement. Bùkě is a negating phrase that means cannot, not able to, or possible, and it begins each statement. Therefore, Derek Lin comes the closest to its proper translation.
Rephrased, it states that you cannot obtain oneness and be valued because there is nothing inherently or naturally valuable—if all is valuable in Tao, then nothing is valuable. You cannot obtain oneness and be disrespected because you do not consider yourself respected above others.
The wise man, the person who follows Tao, sees things and people as they are. No good or bad; no me vs. him; no mine or his. The sage knows this is true because the Tao shows him, but does not tell him.
Derek Lin
Therefore, they become honored by the world故為天下貴
Gù wéi tiānxià guì
Here, Derek adds a few extra words to prove the point. Literally, the phrase says, “Therefore, be all under heaven noble.” When I move around the words to match English phrasing and remember the context of one who follows Tao, I can restate it as, “Therefore, everyone in the world considers him noble.” I use him, but she or any singular pronoun can work, too.
Chapter 56 outlines how a person should live their life in relation to those around them, just as Dr. Treat taught me 20 years ago. Don’t engage with your words; engage with your mind. Be still, open your heart, but not your mouth. Share what you have learned, but not by standing on a sidewalk and yelling; lead through your kindness and hospitality.
The irony of writing words to teach someone to stop using their words is not lost on me. However, we are all human; language is how we communicate across long distances.
In the end, the lesson from that day on campus, echoed by Laozi’s wisdom in the Tao Te Ching, is clear: true influence comes not from shouting your beliefs, but from embodying them. Dr. Treat’s restraint taught me that engaging with a troll, whether on a soapbox or a screen, often fuels their fire. Instead, live with quiet integrity, letting your actions radiate through the lives of those around you, aligning with the oneness of Tao.
Dr. Treat was my favorite professor, and he almost convinced me to stay in college for graduate school, but instead, I chose to start a family and move away. We used to run into each other at bars on Friday nights, and discuss Aristotelian logic, pick apart Hillary Clinton’s speeches, or chat about ancient Greece and the sophists. I loved how he spoke, but more than his words, it was how he spent time with me and shared his journey.
With a baby on the way with my 19-year-old pregnant girlfriend, I needed all the life advice he offered— one beer after another! I wonder if he knows how much those nights meant to me that semester?
His quiet mentorship, from campus to barstool chats, taught me that true influence flows from actions, not arguments. By embodying humility and connection, he showed me how to align with the Tao’s oneness, a lesson I still carry today.
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If you like my writing, please tell me what you think. Do you agree with my interpretation of chapter 56? Did I leave anything out? Let me know!
I appreciate the wisdom of Tao. Wisdom is always wisdom. Christians and atheists or any believer in anything often forget or never learned that words merely represent ideas, and words often mean different things to different people. Everyone translates words into their own thoughts. Translating from one language into another adds another level of translation. Reading or quoting the Bible to another person is always someone's interpretation of an interpretation of an interpretation of an interpretation, at least. God expressed his thoughts in a language spoken by a prophet. The prophet translated/interpreted it into the language his first listener spoke. That listener interpreted into his thought process. A second listener interprets it into his thought process . To pass it on to someone else, who maybe speaks another language, so he has to translates it into that language, etc., etc., etc. ad infinitum. All along the way, however, the Spirit of God aids each listener as he or she will be aided. We can be sure that until he is blocked out, his revelation will be made. Every translation is also an interpretation, so whether a preacher preaches from Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, or Latin (even from the King James, by the way) he is interpreting an interpretation, and if he has not completely lost all vestige of humility, he has to\ rely ultimately on God to speak through him.
That also, not so incidentally, applies to someone passing on the wisdom of Tao, or any other source of wisdom. To use words to communicate to anyone else, should know the wisdom, that to someone with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.
Love this!