Bit by Bit - Chapter 17, Part 2

Trey Smith

Jo of the North Sea said, "You can't discuss the ocean with a well frog - he's limited by the space he lives in. You can't discuss ice with a summer insect - he's bound to a single season. You can't discuss the Way with a cramped scholar - he's shackled by his doctrines. Now you have come out beyond your banks and borders and have seen the great sea - so you realize your own pettiness. From now on it will be possible to talk to you about the Great Principle.
~ Burton Watson translation ~

How can a finite being -- like a human -- genuinely understand a concept like eternity? By our own lives, we know what forever or timelessness is not, but that doesn't mean that we know what eternity or timelessness is. We lack a frame of reference.

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