How we cite our quotes: In consultation with my editor, we decided (against standard practice) to go with page numbers—since The Sunset Limited is one long act and it would be unwieldy and impractical to number all the lines.
Quote #7
BLACK: […] I would say that the thing we are talkin about is Jesus, but it is Jesus understood as that gold at the bottom of the mine. He couldnt come down here to take the form of a man if that form wasnt done shaped to accommodate him. And if I said that there aint no way for Jesus to be ever man without ever man bein Jesus then I believe that might be a pretty big heresy. But that's all right. It aint as big a heresy as sayin that a man aint all that much different from a rock. Which is how your view looks to me. (95)
Black accuses White of believing that people aren't different from rocks, because if they don't have souls or aren't at one with the "forever thing" (95), then what's the difference? He thinks every human needs to be Jesus (or part of Jesus), because Jesus couldn't become a human if a human was something entirely unlike God.
Quote #8
BLACK: I said: Please help me. And he did. […] Well. That's my story, Professor. It's easy told. I dont make a move without Jesus. When I get up in the morning I just try to get ahold of his belt. Oh, ever once in a while I'll catch myself slippin into manual override. But I catch myself. I catch myself.
WHITE: Manual override?
BLACK: You like that?
WHITE: It's okay. (107-108)
"Manual override" refers to the tendency of trying to imagine that you're still in control. It's the illusion that the ego is in charge.
Quote #9
BLACK: […] You just have to be quiet. I cant speak for the Lord but the experience I've had leads me to believe that he'll speak to anybody that'll listen. You damn sure aint got to be virtuous. (109)
If you can be quiet on the inside, Black believes that's the same as surrendering to God—you're putting aside your own intellect and stopping your attempts to sort out the world. It creates the kind of conditions where it might make sense for God to speak to you.