Knowing

Knowing

Without taking a step outdoors
You know the whole world;
Without taking a peep out the window
You know the color of the sky.

The more you experience,
The less you know.
The sage wanders without knowing
Sees without looking,
Accomplishes without acting.

http://www.chinapage.com/gnl.html#47


From this passage, the Way is being described as limitless and having no direct route to it. Starting from the fifth line going down, the more you experience, the more likely that you'll begin to act out of your own best interest no matter the cost. Therefore, you know less since the Way isn't selfish, and it shows that experience or seeing many things as you get older isn't necessarily the Way.

"The sage wanders without knowing" means to go through every experience as if it were the first time you've experienced them. This helps to avoid the kind of mindset where one thinks, "This must not be the Way because I've been through this before." "Sees without looking" means to look for the Way without actually trying to search for it. For example, you could help those in need without wondering if it would bring you closer to the Way. "Accomplishes without acting" implies that a person could achieve the Way without actually doing anything or trying to strive for it. Thus, these points support the idea that the Way has many routes to achieving it.

"Without taking a step outdoors, you know the whole world" seems to mean that you don't have to be who everyone wants you to be to achieve the Way. In the same way, no one can tell you how to get to the Way. "Without taking a peep out the window, you know the color of the sky" could possibly mean that you already have a way to the Way. You just have to make the choice to take those steps to the Way. This further supports the idea that the Way does not have a route that can be defined by anyone else and that the path you take to the Way is your own path.