For nearly two hours have I been lost
in the contemplation of this magnificent spectacle. I felt myself in
the
temple of the infinite, in the presence of the worlds, God's
guest in this vast nature. The stars wandering in the
pale ether
drew me far away from earth. What peace beyond the power of words,
what dews of life eternal,
they shed on the adoring soul! I felt the
earth floating like a boat in this blue ocean. Such deep and
tranquil
delight nourishes the whole man, it purifies and ennobles.
I surrendered myself, I was all gratitude and
docility.
April 21, 1855.—I have been reading a
great deal: ethnography, comparative anatomy, cosmical systems. I
have traversed the universe from the deepest depths of the empyrean
to the peristaltic movements of the atoms
in the elementary cell. I
have felt myself expanding in the infinite, and enfranchised in
spirit from the bounds
of time and space, able to trace back the
whole boundless creation to a point without dimensions, and seeing
the vast multitude of suns, of milky ways, of stars, and nebulae, all
existent in the point.
And on all sides stretched mysteries, marvels
and prodigies, without limit, without number, and without end. I
felt the unfathomable thought of which the universe is the symbol
live and burn within me; I touched, proved,
tasted, embraced my
nothingness and my immensity; I kissed the hem of the garments of
God, and gave Him
thanks for being Spirit and for being life. Such
moments are glimpses of the divine. They make one conscious
of one's
immortality; they bring home to one that an eternity is not too much
for the study of the thoughts and
works of the eternal; they awaken
in us an adoring ecstasy and the ardent humility of love.
Amiel's Journal
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