no expectation of approval

But now, after having once and for all put to the test the judgments of men, I here again approach these same questions regarding God and the human mind, and at the same time treat the beginnings of the whole of first philosophy, but in such a way that I have no expectation of approval from the vulgar and no wide audience of readers. Rather, I am an author to none who read these things but those who seriously meditate with me, who have the ability and the desire to withdraw their mind from the senses and at the same time from all prejudices. Such people I know all too well to be few and far between. As to those who do not take care to comprehend the order and series of my reasons but eagerly dispute over single conclusions by themselves, as is the custom for many-those, I say, will derive little benefit from a reading of this treatise; and although perhaps they might find an occasion for quibbling in many spots, still it is not an easy matter for them to raise an objection that is either compelling or worthy of response.

Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy, 1641, "Preface to the Reader."

a stagnant hollow sound

swimming in the waters of this sea and of that sea... in a country that is no longer ours nor yours... we have no rivers, we have no wells, we have only springs, only a few cisterns --and these empty-- that echo, and we worship them. a stagnant hollow sound, the same as our loneliness the same as our love, the same as our bodies... give us, outside serenity, sleep. giorgios sefiriades mythistorema

to possess a mind

i am an invisible man... i am a man of substance, of flesh and bone, fiber and liquids -- and i might even be said to possess a mind. i am invisible, understand, simply because people refuse to see me.

ralph ellison the invisible man: prologue

deliver us, Lord, from this!

of course, you need labor and effort, both mental and from the heart. do not spare yourself. if you do, you will ruin yourself. do not spare yourself, and you will have salvation. abandon a certain wrongful activity that often strikes and afflicts almost everyone: that is, the fact that we spare no labor on any matter except when it comes to that of salvation. we want to think that we have only to contemplate salvation and desire it, and everything is all set. that is not how it happens in reality. the matter of salvation is the most important thing. consequently it is the most difficult. this is by virtue of its importance and by the labor required. labor then, for the Lord's sake! very soon you will see the fruit. if you do not set to work, however, you will be left without anything and be unworthy. deliver us, Lord, from this!

st. theophan the recluse the spiritual life and how to be attuned to it, letter 51