From time to time we meet older people who are radiant with all the simplicity of children. They possess spontaneity, openness, freedom and freshness along with serenity and wisdom of experience.

It is this combination of innocence and experience that we call maturity, Christian maturity.

A child possesses an innocence naturally.

Most of us, unfortunately, lose it because we have been hurt or disappointed, or because we so feel that we have been betrayed that there’s no chance of our risking… such innocence. We might be mistreated or misunderstood.

As a result we become not wise, but cynical…

David Main, The Way of Unknowing: Expanding Spiritual Horizons through Meditation, pp. 91-2