Daoist metaphysics holds children closer to Dào than adults

Evidence

If the child’s nature is already aligned with Dào — and the Daoist tradition, like Mencius but for different reasons, holds that children are closer to Dào than adults, not further from it — then the parent’s task is primarily to avoid obstructing that alignment. The parent who strikes the child does not merely inflict pain. She interrupts the child’s natural development, imposes an alien rhythm on a process that was proceeding well without her intervention. — , The Rod and the Child, 4104

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the earlier Mencius material in the series — the chapter explicitly contrasts their similar conclusions for different reasons. — connects to: Youth values the process of life while adults cling to its objective forms — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 854

Broader Connections

• Youth values the process of life while adults cling to its objective forms #exemplifies (0.82) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 854