Many people pursue a path of utter simplicity because they believe that the Great Way is utterly simple, but this puts the cart before the horse. Although this saying describes the simplicity of the Great Way, it does not emphasize simplicity alone. Blindly pursuing simplification and ease is not a shortcut to finding the true Great Way. The Great Way is utterly simple, but utter simplicity does not necessarily mean attaining the Way. Why not? The difference lies in the word “utterly.” We chase the “simplicity” in this saying while overlooking the meaning of “utterly.” The Chinese word used here, “zhi,” can be understood in two ways: first, as the utmost point; second, as reaching or arriving.
The first is the more common interpretation: that fundamental principles are extremely simple,
The second layer of understanding is overlooked by most people, yet it is actually more important. The truth you come to realize is not that you should become simple, but that you should return to simplicity. And where does simplicity come from? Of course, from complexity. We shouldn't chase overly simplistic lessons right from the start, or even take to heart the so-called distilled insights and life aphorisms that others have arrived at through experience. Some wisdom comes too early: we may not understand it deeply, may not know what it means, or may even think it is complete nonsense. You need to have some complex experiences and go through them yourself, so you can gain insight and awareness and learn something from them. As Laozi said, “In learning, one gains daily; in following the Dao, one lets go daily.”
When starting from zero, we should first grow through learning and experience, building up what we know as we make our way toward complexity. Only then can we separate the wheat from the chaff, simplify what is complicated, and ultimately find the truth that is yours. We may even need to go through this process again and again in our finite lifetimes before we can find the Way. Picasso didn't start out painting abstractly. He said, “At 14, I could already paint as well as Raphael. After that, I spent my whole life learning to paint like a child.” E = mc² is simple and beautiful, but his mind was anything but simple.
Goldbach's Conjecture of 1 + 1 remains unanswered to this day, and even the closest result, 1 + 2, is backed by derivations ordinary people can hardly understand. To pursue the quality-inspection path to the other shore, you must first wade through complex undercurrents—in today's terms, you must do addition before you can do subtraction. Expressed in an imprecise formula: simple plus simple still equals simple, while complexity divided by simplicity equals wisdom. That is, the more complexity you have experienced and the simpler the principles you distill, the greater the intelligence you attain. So between the two formulas, only the latter can find the unchanging simplicity in an ever-changing world. All things begin with the simplicity of the great Way, and evolve into complexity; thus only simplicity that has passed through complexity returns to the great Way.