Mortal: Well, I'm talking to you, am I not?
God: Exactly! From that point of view, your attitude toward me might be described as a personal one. And yet, from another point of view - no less valid - I can also be looked at impersonally.
Mortal: But if you are really such an abstract thing as a process, I don't see what sense it can make my talking to a mere "process."
God: I love the way you say "mere". You might just as well say that you are living in a "mere universe." Also, why must everything one does make sense? Does it make sense to talk to a tree?
Mortal: Of course not!
God: And yet, many children and primitives do just that.
Mortal: But I am neither a child nor a primitive.
God: I realize that, unfortunately.
Mortal: Why unfortunately?
God: Because many children and primitives have a primal intuition which the likes of you have lost. Frankly, I think it would do you a lot of good to talk to a tree once in a while, even more good than talking to me! But we seem always to be getting sidetracked!
- T. H. Huxley
"There is no self-consciousness in the newborn child. Later on, the mind wanders into self-images, starts to think Should I do this? Is this movement right? and loses the immediacy of the moment. The child's movement is pristine and innocent and delightful, but a truly supple adult movement is awesome, because all life is included in it.
"The infant cries all day long without straining its throat. It clenches its fist all day long without cramping its hand. It stares all day long without weakening its eyes. Free from all worries, unaware of itself, it acts without thinking, doesn't know why things happen, doesn't need to know."
"He who is in harmony with the Tao
The Master's power is like this.
is like a newborn child.
Its bones are soft, its muscles weak
but its grip is powerful.
It doesn't know about the union of male and female,
yet its penis can stand erect,
so intense is its vital power.
It can scream its head off all day,
yet it never becomes hoarse,
so complete is its harmony.
He lets all things come and go
effortlessly, without desire.
He never expects results;
thus he is never disappointed.
He is never disappointed;
thus his spirit never grows old."
- The Book of the Way