Zhuangzi

“There was a man

who was so disturbed

by the sight of his own shadow

and so displeased with his own footsteps

that he determined to get rid of both.

The method he hit upon was to run away from them.

So he got up and ran.

But every time he put his foot down

there was another step,

while his shadow kept up with him

without the slightest difficulty.

He attributed his failure

to the fact that he was not running fast enough.

So he ran faster and faster, without stopping,

until he finally dropped dead.

He failed to realize

that if he merely stepped into the shade,

his shadow would vanish,

and if he sat down and stayed still,

there would be no more footsteps.”