text: I like agnostics. Because they do not know so much. I think the term was first used by Christian mystics like Gregory of Nyssa to mean that knowledge of God was a no knowledge of God, hence< a-gnostic. I doubt thin the Tao Te Ching is particularly agnostic. Rather, all early Chinese philosophy was agonostic, skeptical of gods and spirits. Sung dynasty saying: Respect the gods but keep them at a distance.