The Chambered Nautilus
I am reading Light from many Lamps these days - a treasury of inspiration indeed (as it claims to be on its cover). It includes, with commentary, some of the greatest writings there have been - stemming from the depths of the human soul and therefore documenting its many journeys through the vicissitudes of life. This morning, I was, in particular, moved by the following verse from Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes's famous poem:
While it is lovely indeed to come across a written word that pleases us, it is an exercise more illuminating, I find, to enquire into what it is that appeals to us really. Is there a need of the soul that is thence satisfied? And what is this need? Where does that stem from? The process is endless, and endlessly instructive. Is not the self a source of endless entertainment thus?
Build thee more stately mansions, O my soul,
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
As the swift seasons roll!
Leave thy low-vaulted past!
Let each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut thee from heaven with a dome more vast,
Till thou at length art free,
Leaving thine outgrown shell by life's unresting sea!
While it is lovely indeed to come across a written word that pleases us, it is an exercise more illuminating, I find, to enquire into what it is that appeals to us really. Is there a need of the soul that is thence satisfied? And what is this need? Where does that stem from? The process is endless, and endlessly instructive. Is not the self a source of endless entertainment thus?
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