The beginning and end of knowledge are the same thing -- the intuitive
apprehension of reality as a totality.... At the core of life is a
tiny steady flame of contemplation. If it goes out the person
perishes, although the body and its brain may stumble on, and
civilization goes rapidly to ruin. The source of life, the source of
the order of nature, the source of knowledge, and the source of social
order are all identical -- the immediate comprehension of the reality
beyond being and not being. Contact with this power is the only kind
of power there is.
-- Kenneth Rexroth. on the Tao Te Ching, Saturday Review 7/20/68