DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.52538#0042
32
‘1 Let him (the wise man) be devoted to that quietude
which comes from within, let him not drive back the ecstacy of
contemplation, let him look through things, let him be much
alone." * * * §
Thoreau found solitude a necessity of his fullest, most
perfect life. Thus he writes in his diary :
I thrive best on solitude. If I have had a companion only
one day in a week, I find that the value of the week to me has
been seriously affected. It dissipates my days, etc.”f
The presence of others hindered the mystic perception of
the inner soul behind all phenomena :
“ I saw through and behind them (the white pines) to a
distant snow-clad hill, and also to oaks red with their dry leaves
and maple limbs mingled with the pines. I was on the
verge of seeing something, but I did not. If I had been alone
I might have had something to report.
(f) Silence.
The Hindoo sage in his isolation does not interrupt the
highest communion with the eternal self by any speech or
sound :
“ Hoher ist, als die Grundsilbe
Der Punkt, hoher als er der Hall,
Die Silbe mit dem Laut schwindet,
Lautlos die hochste Static ist.Ӥ
Thoreau, too, has his doctrine of silence :
‘‘ As the truest society approaches always nearer to soli-
tude, so the most excellent speech falls into silence. . . Silence
is when we hear inwardly, sound when we hear outwardly.
Who has not heard her infinite din ! She is Truth’s speaking-
trumpet, for through her all revelations have been made.”||
*Akankhenya Sutta, p. 210 : cf. “ Confucius,” p. 27,
t(Dec. 28th, 1856), Winter p. 49 : cf. also p. 354.
fWinter, p. 150.
§ Dhyam, 4. Deussen Gesch. der Philos., 1, p. 351. “ Higher than
the ground syllable (Om) is the point, higher than that the sound, the
syllable vanishes with the tones, the highest is soundlessness.”
II Week, p. 515-6-
‘1 Let him (the wise man) be devoted to that quietude
which comes from within, let him not drive back the ecstacy of
contemplation, let him look through things, let him be much
alone." * * * §
Thoreau found solitude a necessity of his fullest, most
perfect life. Thus he writes in his diary :
I thrive best on solitude. If I have had a companion only
one day in a week, I find that the value of the week to me has
been seriously affected. It dissipates my days, etc.”f
The presence of others hindered the mystic perception of
the inner soul behind all phenomena :
“ I saw through and behind them (the white pines) to a
distant snow-clad hill, and also to oaks red with their dry leaves
and maple limbs mingled with the pines. I was on the
verge of seeing something, but I did not. If I had been alone
I might have had something to report.
(f) Silence.
The Hindoo sage in his isolation does not interrupt the
highest communion with the eternal self by any speech or
sound :
“ Hoher ist, als die Grundsilbe
Der Punkt, hoher als er der Hall,
Die Silbe mit dem Laut schwindet,
Lautlos die hochste Static ist.Ӥ
Thoreau, too, has his doctrine of silence :
‘‘ As the truest society approaches always nearer to soli-
tude, so the most excellent speech falls into silence. . . Silence
is when we hear inwardly, sound when we hear outwardly.
Who has not heard her infinite din ! She is Truth’s speaking-
trumpet, for through her all revelations have been made.”||
*Akankhenya Sutta, p. 210 : cf. “ Confucius,” p. 27,
t(Dec. 28th, 1856), Winter p. 49 : cf. also p. 354.
fWinter, p. 150.
§ Dhyam, 4. Deussen Gesch. der Philos., 1, p. 351. “ Higher than
the ground syllable (Om) is the point, higher than that the sound, the
syllable vanishes with the tones, the highest is soundlessness.”
II Week, p. 515-6-