We've got to become our Child Within.

We ask where compassion comes in, where guilt comes in all this. We'll know when we're awake to our Child Within. If we're feeling guilty right now, how on earth can we explain it to you? How would we know what compassion is? You know, sometimes people want to imitate, but when a monkey plays a saxophone, that doesn't make him a musician. We can't imitate the Child Within by imitating his external behaviour. We've got to become our Child Within. Then we'll know exactly what to do in a particular situation, given our temperament, our character, and the character and temperament of the person we're dealing with. No one has to tell us. But to do that, we must return to our  Child Within was. An external imitation will get us nowhere. If you think that compassion implies softness, there's no way I can describe compassion to you, absolutely no way, because compassion can be very hard. Compassion can be very rude, compassion can jolt you, compassion can roll up its sleeves and operate on you. Compassion is all kinds of things. Compassion can be very soft, but there's no way of knowing that. It's only when you become love -- in other words, when you have dropped your illusions and attachments -- that you will "know."