The whole of that we need to know.
Now here we lie, the child and I,
And watch the clouds go floating by,
Just telling stories turn by turn....
Lord, which is teacher, which doth learn?
H. D. Lowry.
As Coleridge says in the last quotation, “We receive but what we give.” We bring with us the mind that sees, and the feelings and emotions with which we contemplate the universe; and, so far as use, habit, and other causes still the activity and lessen the receptivity of the mind and spirit, the world around us becomes less instinct with life and beauty.
Putting aside the question whether, as Wordsworth says in his great Ode,
Trailing clouds of glory do we come
From God, who is our home,