Unknowing (Taoism)

When subject to the conditioning of mundane circumstances, the awareness of the human mind is that of external objects and not of inner essence, of which it is ignorant. The situation is reversed from the perspective of the celestial awareness of Tao, in that there is no fixation on externals but rather a sense of detachment. Darkness can thus symbolize unknowing in the sense of ignorance or in the sense of detachment.