Mair 14:1

[Marblehead]

"Does heaven revolve?
Does earth stand still?
Do the sun and moon jockey for position?
Who controls all of this?
Who unfolds all of this?
Who ties it all together?
Who dwells in inactivity,
Yet impels things on their course?

May it be that there are levers and threads
That drive them inexorably?
Or may it be that they just keep turning
And are unable to stop by themselves?
Do the clouds make the rain?
{{A favorite Chinese metaphor for sexual activity.}}

Or does the rain make the clouds?
Who bestows them so generously?
Who dwells in inactivity,
Yet urges things on to all this lusty joy?

The winds arise in the north
And, first to the east, then to the west,
They drift back and forth above us.
Who breathes them?
Who dwells in inactivity,
Yet does this fanning?

I venture to ask the reasons for all this."

"Come, and I shall tell you;" said the Magus {{A type of ancient Iranian ritual specialist who also became active in West Asia, Europe, and China during the first millennium B.C.E.  The word is cognate with the English magician.}} Hsien while beckoning.  "Heaven has six poles and five constants.  {{This probably refers to the five phasal elements.}}  If emperors and kings conform to them, there will be good government, but if they go against them, there will be evil consequences.  Tending to the affairs of the nine regions, government will be complete and virtue realized.  Overseeing and illuminating the earth below, they will be supported by all under heaven.  Thus they are called the August on High."

[Taoist Texts]

Both Mair and Legge made a fine mess out of this straightforward exchange but:

 

Asked:

3 hours ago, Marblehead said:

Who controls all of this?
Who unfolds all of this?

And answered:

3 hours ago, Marblehead said:

they are called the August on High

 

[Marblehead]

38 minutes ago, Taoist Texts said:

Both Mair and Legge made a fine mess out of this straightforward exchange but:

 

Asked:

And answered:

 

And I don't even like the answer.  It is too complicated.  The answer is "Tao".

 

 

 

[Stosh]

Imo the point is meant to be rhetorical,

,,and then the answer is 'Nobody in particular' ,

each thing playing its own part (though it leaves the thing open for those who want a godhead. )  

 

Presuming the authors idea is indeed no-one , makes sense to me in the larger view of the canon,  in that the end users , the useless ones, the ones living according to their nature, breathe the life into an inorganic situation , as witness of it all , an awareness in it all , and are just as integral a part of the whole as anything else ... Rather than some kind of object divided from the divine, or some kind of pawn in a practical joke.