20th Chapter
What is the difference between being respectful and neglectful?
What is the difference between being good and evil?
People are concerned about these things, and I must be concerned about them too.
People’s fears have existed for a long time and there is no end to them in the future.

Everyone seems intoxicated in the enjoyment of abundance from the world.
It is like they partake of a feast together.
It is like going up to a terrace to enjoy the spring festival scenery.
I alone am indifferent and not disturbed, like a newborn baby who has not yet smiled.
I alone am drifting, like a person who has no place to call home.
Everyone else has more than what they need, I alone seem to live in want.
You can say I am just a foolish man.
I don’t have the same knowledge as others. To them, I am an ignoramus.
Everyone seems bright and clever, I alone have not much to say like a foolish man.

The land I travel is like a vast ocean. My journey goes on like the restless wind
In this world, I am but a guest.
Everyone seems skillful and the things they do seem important,
I alone have nothing to show and seem dull.
I am different from others; I treasure Tao as my life and I would rather abide in it and be nourished by it.

Implications from the Holy Books

Detach yourselves from all else but Me, and turn your faces towards My face, for better is this for you than the things ye possess. The Tongue of God testifieth to the truth of My words, through Mine own Word that speaketh the truth, and embraceth and comprehendeth all things. —Bahá’u’lláh,  Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 121

Know ye that by “the world” is meant your unawareness of Him Who is your Maker, and your absorption in aught else but Him. The “life to come,” on the other hand, signifieth the things that give you a safe approach to God, the All-Glorious, the Incomparable. Whatsoever deterreth you, in this Day, from loving God is nothing but the world. Flee it, that ye may be numbered with the blest. Should a man wish to adorn himself with the ornaments of the earth, to wear its apparels, or partake of the benefits it can bestow, no harm can befall him, if he alloweth nothing whatever to intervene between him and God, for God hath ordained every good thing, whether created in the heavens or in the earth, for such of His servants as truly believe in Him. Eat ye, O people, of the good things which God hath allowed you, and deprive not yourselves from His wondrous bounties. Render thanks and praise unto Him, and be of them that are truly thankful. —Bahá’u’lláh,  Gleanings From the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh 128

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