Wu Wei: a phantasy based on the philosophy of Lao-Tse

All attempts at translating the famous Tao teh king of Lao-tsze having hitherto more or less failed, it is highly interesting to see a man of a poetical turn of mind and not benighted by a dry study of old Chinese texts, unveil the secrets contained in that book. Henri Borel says in his Preface, that his work is no translation, nor even a free rendering of Lao-tsze but that the sayings of this sage, which have withstood the interpretation of a Julien and a Legge, looked to him so simple, that he felt the truth they contain within himself as a plain and natural faith. M. Borel then set himself to converting that truth into a Phantasy. His lovely little book teems with sparks of fancy and genius, but it is, of course, no image of the "Tao teh king", nor even a shade of it. Absolute confidence in metaphysical reasoning is no key to the occult mysteries of Lao; philological and historical research respecting this sage and his writings have not yet finished their extremely difficult task.