If we can." "No matter if you can or not. You must." Anger bested her. "That's not logical. That's completely arbitrary. To demand that someone do so… - Sheri S. Tepper

The ancient lizard mind lies below the mammalian mind, which lies below a primate mind, which is modified by a mind adapted to language, and since these layers have developed in response to differing evolutionary pressures, they often do not function efficiently together. Human civility tries to control ape dominance, human rationality tries to control mammalian sexuality, human social conscience tries to ameliorate reptilian greed, never with total success.

Bao is the acceptance that mankind is part of the fabric of the universe, not the purpose of it. Humanity is meant to live as part of creation, not as the owner of it or to make war against it.

But how is it you know all this about how large the ocean is? I thought you girls were limited to pretty chatter and the economics of housekeeping. I didn't know you learned geography."
"We don't," she said, somewhat shamefaced. "But we learned to read, and once one can read, one can learn anything.