wandelaar

Well it looks like in (modern) society behaving naturally isn't enough. There are too many things Tao (or nature or evolution) didn't prepare us for. People become the slave of their own mobile phones, eat too much, take too little physical exercise, etc. So it looks like some conscious corrections to our natural impulses are necessary for keeping on the right track.

In that case the many encouragements in the Tao Te Ching to be soft and flexible could be meant to counteract our general tendency to err in the direction of being too rigid and demanding?

In that case there are lots of 'secrets' (in sports, science, art, etc.) that you can read about and find information on on the internet. There are lots of books about secret techniques in the martial arts so I doubt whether in that field there are any real secrets left. But you are right that it's a healthy principle not to teach someone a technique when you don't trust them to apply it in a sensible and moral way. That's just a question of responsibility not so much of esoteric secrets.

Well - how would you define a secret and what would then be your idea of the role of such secrets in case they exist.

I am wondering whether these days there are any real secrets left that are not already found in some books or somewhere on the internet. Of course anyone can create a "secret" by using some special terminology or symbols representing known processes, or one could consider something a "secret" that isn't actually true but only appears so when investigated by an uncritical believer.

Maybe the chapter simply indicates there is in fact a price to pay to lead a Taoist life. You will become incapable of fully participating in the ways of life of ordinary people.

Thank you all!