It is the body, with its inseparably connected emotions and passions, which is the cause of all the ills that attend humanity;[28] and he who would return to the state of original innocence must overcome his body.[29] To be without desires is to be at rest, and if man were freed from the body he would have no cause for fear. To keep the gateways of the senses closed against the sight, sounds and tastes which distract and mar the soul within, is the simple metaphor which Lao-tzŭ uses to express this overcoming of self.[30] This conquest he puts above every other. He who knows others is learned, but he who knows himself is enlightened; he who overcomes others has physical force, but he who overcomes himself has moral strength.[31] The disastrous consequence of yielding to the bodily appetites is beautifully illustrated by a metaphor familiar to us in a Taoist book to which I have already referred. The people of the world following their desires strive for reputation, grasp at gain, covet wine, and lust after beauty—they take the bitter for the pleasant and the false for the real—day and night they toil and moil, morn and even they fret and care, nor desist even when their vital energies are almost exhausted. Like the moth which extinguishes its life in the dazzling blaze of the lamp or the worm which goes to its own destruction in the fire, these men do not wait for the command of the king of Death, but send themselves to the grave.[32] Associated with continence is the virtue of moderation, which also must form part of the good man’s character. To be content is to be rich and brings with it no danger or shame, while there is no greater calamity than not to know when to be satisfied.[33] He who knows where to stop will not incur peril, nor will he ever indulge in excess. To fill a cup while holding it in the hand is not so good as to let it alone, or, as we say, it is hard to carry a full cup even.[34] Too sharp an edge cannot be kept on a tool, and a hall full of gold and precious stones cannot be defended; and he who is wanton in prosperity leaves a legacy of misfortune. Various other metaphors are used to inculcate the necessity of following the mean, and abstaining from extravagance. The man who erects himself on tiptoe cannot continue so, nor can he who takes long strides continue to walk.[35] The intelligent and good man will be moderate in all things, not desiring to be prized like jade or slighted like a stone.[36]