53rd Chapter
If I only know a little bit about following Tao, that would be “for those who walk on the path, the most fearful thing is that he can fall off the path, or he does not even know he is already off the path.”
(Fear of God is the protection to prevent us from straying off the path.)

The Way of Tao is very flat and straight, and yet most people prefer to take sidetracks.
And this is leads to corrupt government, abandoned farms, empty granaries; the political officers still dress up in luxury, wear a sword to show off their power, are unsatisfied with the exquisite meals they have been provided, and they accumulate more possessions then they ever need.
They are called the robber barons, and boasting thieves.
How wrong they are, and how far have they already strayed from the Tao!

Implications from the Holy Books

O servants! Verily I say, he is to be accounted as truthful who hath beheld the straight Path. That Path is one, and God hath chosen and prepared it. It shineth as resplendent amongst all paths as the sun amongst the stars. Whosoever hath not attained it hath failed to apprehend the truth and hath gone astray. Such are the counsels of the incomparable, the peerless Lord.

servants! This nether world is the abode of demons: Guard yourselves from approaching them. By demons is meant those wayward souls who, with the burden of their evil deeds, slumber in the chambers of oblivion. Their sleep is preferable to their wakefulness, and their death is better than their life.

The Lord of the world saith: O servants! Forsake your own desires and seek that which I have desired for you. Walk ye not without one to guide you on the way, and accept ye not the words of every guide. How numerous the guides who have gone astray and failed to discover the straight Path! He alone is a guide who is free from the bondage of this world and whom nothing whatsoever can deter from speaking the truth.

O servants! Follow the path of truthfulness and turn not away from the needy. Make mention of Me before the great ones of the earth and fear not.

O servants! Be pure in your deeds, and conduct yourselves in accordance with the words of God. Such are the counsels of the incomparable Lord. ── Bahá’u’lláh, Tabernacle of Unity

The essence of wisdom is the fear of God, the dread of His scourge and punishment, and the apprehension of His justice and decree. ── Bahá’u’lláh, Words of Wisdom

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