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“1. Accept everything just the way it is.
2. Do not seek pleasure for its own sake.
3. Do not, under any circumstances, depend on a partial feeling.
4. Think lightly of yourself and deeply of the world.
5. Be detached from desire your whole life long.
6. Do not regret what you have done.
7. Never be jealous.
8. Never let yourself be saddened by a separation.
9. Resentment and complaint are appropriate neither for oneself nor others.
10. Do not let yourself be guided by the feeling of lust or love.
11. In all things have no preferences.
12. Be indifferent to where you live.
13. Do not pursue the taste of good food.
14. Do not hold on to possessions you no longer need.
15. Do not act following customary beliefs.
16. Do not collect weapons or practice with weapons beyond what is useful.
17. Do not fear death.
18. Do not seek to possess either goods or fiefs for your old age.
19. Respect Buddha and the gods without counting on their help.
20. You may abandon your own body but you must preserve your honour.
21. Never stray from the Way.”

― Miyamoto Musashi

@Jeroen said:

“Man suffers only because he takes seriously what the gods made for fun.”

― Alan Watts

I like that this implies that the meaning of the universe is for amusement. It seems a better reason than many… when you are young and go skipping through the park and looking at the clouds while you are full of dreams about what you might do later in your life you don’t appreciate that you are perhaps closer to the real meaning of the universe than many an aged philosopher.

I think as you get older the mind and the brain get clogged up with “facts” and “methods” and “seriousness”… and you lose “magic” and “dreams” and “spontaneity”. The mind becomes a burden, casting the same world that seems wondrous in childhood with somber, dreary and grey overtones. It is what happens to many in old age.

Which is why I love Alan Watts, he has a great and playful understanding.

There's a Dogen quote that I think gets to the heart of what you're saying

“Before one studies Zen, mountains are mountains and waters are waters; after a first glimpse into the truth of Zen, mountains are no longer mountains and waters are no longer waters; after enlightenment, mountains are once again mountains and waters once again waters.”
― Dōgen

I read this as a path forward and through, not a regression though. Its pointing to a mature wisdom rather than a childish innocence.