...and the process is gradual and cumulative. This is why some writers say that self-awareness becomes "crystallized" on the way from childhood to adulthood.
In the same way, a child lives in the present moment with minimal thoughts of past or future, but as they grow up and spend more and more time attending to thoughts, the idea of time and a time-bound separate self becomes increasingly dominant.
The operative descriptive term for sages is "child-like"--innocent, free, playful, now-oriented, and psychologically unified.
In the same way, a child lives in the present moment with minimal thoughts of past or future, but as they grow up and spend more and more time attending to thoughts, the idea of time and a time-bound separate self becomes increasingly dominant.
The operative descriptive term for sages is "child-like"--innocent, free, playful, now-oriented, and psychologically unified.
