Bit by Bit - Chapter 22, Part 5

Trey Smith

Knowledge said to the Yellow Emperor, "I asked Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing and he didn't reply to me. It wasn't that he merely didn't reply to me - he didn't know how to reply to me. I asked Wild-and-Witless and he was about to explain to me, though he didn't explain anything. It wasn't that he wouldn't explain to me - but when he was about to explain, he forgot what it was. Now I have asked you and you know the answer. Why then do you say that you are nowhere near being right?"

The Yellow Emperor said, "Do-Nothing-Say-Nothing is the one who is truly right - because he doesn't know. Wild-and-Witless appears to be so - because he forgets. But you and I in the end are nowhere near it - because we know."

Wild-and-Witless heard of the incident and concluded that the Yellow Emperor knew what he was talking about.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

There are far too many Wild-and-Witless among us. They pretend to know the secrets of the cosmos and they expend much verbiage in telling us how much they know without actually saying anything at all. At the end day, however, it would appear that they are just as clueless as the rest of us! So why do we shower these nitwits with fame, money and power?

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