unexplained as yet, that man in so deluding
himself is merely interpreting Nature backwards
and putting into the words of death the
meaning of life. For that man does indeed
hold within him the infinite, and that the ocean
is really in the cup, is an incontestable truth;
but it is only so because the cup is absolutely
non-existent. It is merely an experience of the
infinite, having no permanence, liable to be
shattered at any instant. It is in the claiming
of reality and permanence for the four walls of
his personality, that man makes the vast
blunder which plunges him into a prolonged
series of unfortunate incidents, and intensifies
continually the existence of his favorite forms
of sensation. Pleasure and pain become to him
more real than the great ocean of which he is
a part and where his home is; he perpetually
knocks himself painfully against these walls
where he feels, and his tiny self oscillates
within his chosen prison.




CHAPTER V

THE SECRET OF STRENGTH

I