"Mêng Sun knows not whence we come nor whither we go. He knows not whether the end will come early or late. Passing into life as a man, he quietly awaits his passage into the unknown. What should the dead know of the living, or the living know of the dead? Even you and I may be in a dream from which we have not yet awaked.
"Then again, he adapts himself physically,
To the ceremonial of the body.
while avoiding injury to his higher self.
Keeping his soul free from the disturbance of passion.
He regards a dying man simply as one who is going home. He sees others weep, and he naturally weeps too.
"Besides, a man's personality is something of which he is subjectively conscious. It is impossible for him to say if he is really that which he is conscious of being. You dream you are a bird, and soar to heaven. You dream you are a fish, and dive into the ocean's depths. And you cannot tell whether the man now speaking is awake or in a dream.
"A pleasurable sensation precedes the smile it evokes. The smile itself is not dependent upon a reminding nudge.
And just so was Mêng Sun's outward expression of grief,—spontaneous, as being in harmony with his surroundings.