THE POWER OF PRESENT
MEDITATION
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👀 WHATSOEVER IS NOW PRESENT, AND FROM DAY TO DAY HATH ITS EXISTENCE, ALL OBJECTS OF MEMORIES, AND THE MINDS AND MEMORIES THEMSELVES, INCESSANTLY CONSIDER, ALL THINGS THAT ARE, HAVE THEIR BEING BY CHANGE AND ALTERATION. USE THYSELF THEREFORE OFTEN TO MEDITATE UPON THIS, THAT THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE DELIGHTS IN NOTHING MORE, THAN IN ALTERING THOSE THINGS THAT ARE, AND IN MAKING OTHERS LIKE UNTO THEM. SO THAT WE MAY SAY, THAT WHATSOEVER IS, IS BUT AS IT WERE THE SEED OF THAT WHAT WHICH SHALL BE. FOR IT THOU THINK THAT, THAT ONLY IS SEED, WHICH EITHER THE EARTH OR THE WOMB RECEIVETH, THOU ART VERY SIMPLE.
👀 THOU ART NOW READ TO DIE, AND YET HAST THOU NOT ATTAINED TO THAT PERFECT SIMPLICITY, THOU ART YET SUBJECT TO MANY TROUBLES AND PERTURBATIONS, NOT YET FREE FROM ALL FEAR AND SUSPICION OF EXTERNAL ACCIDENTS, NOR YET EITHER SO MEEKLY DISPOSED TOWARDS ALL MEN, AS THOU SHOULDEST, OR SO AFFECTED AS ONE, WHOSE ONLY STUDY ONLY WISDOM IS, TO BE JUST IN ALL HIS ACTIONS.
👀 IN ANOTHER MAN'S MIND AND UNDERSTANDING THY EVIL CANNOT SUBSIST, NOR IN ANY PROPER TEMPER OR DISTEMPER OF THE NATURAL CONSTITUTION OF THY BODY, WHICH IS BUT AS IT WERE THE COAT OR COTTAGE OF THY SOUL. WHEREIN THEN, BUT IN THAT PART OF THEE, WHEREIN, THE CONCEIT, AND APPREHENSION OF ANY MISERY CAN SUBSIST? LET NOT THAT PART THEREFORE ADMIT ANY SUCH CONCEIT, AND THEN ALL IS WELL. THOUGH THY BODY WHICH IS SO NEAR IT SHOULD EITHER BE CUT OR BURNT, OR SUFFER ANY CORRUPTION OR PUTREFACTION, YET LET THAT PART TO WHICH IT BELINGS TO JUDGE OF THESE, BE STILL AT REST, THAT IS, LET HER JUDGE THIS, THAT WHATSOEVER IT IS, THAT EQUALLY MAY HAPPEN TO A WICKED MAN, AND TO A GOOD MAN, IS NEITHER GOOD NOR EVIL. FOR THAT WHICH HAPPENS EQUALLY TO HIM THAT LIVES ACCORDING TO NATURE, AND TO HIM THAT DOTH NOT, IS NEITHER ACCORDING TO NATURE, NOR AGAINST IT, AND BY CONSEQUENT, NEITHER GOOD NOR BAD.
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👀 EVER CONSIDER AND THINK UPON THE WORLD AS BEING BUT ONCE LIVING SUBSTANCE, AND HAVING BUT ONE SOUL, AND HOW ALL THINGS IN THE WORLD, ARE TERMINATED INTO ONE SENSITIVE POWER, AND ARE DONE BY ONE GENERAL MOTION AS IT WERE, AND DELIBERATION OF THAT ONE SOUL, AND HOW ALL THINGS THAT ARE, CONCUR IN THE CAUSE OF ONE ANOTHER'S BEING, AND BY WHAT MANNER OF CONNECTION AND CONCATENATION ALL THINGS HAPPEN.
👀 WHAT ART THOU, THAT BETTER AND DIVINE PART EXCEPTED, BUT AS EPICTETUS SAID WELL, A WRETCHED SOUL, APPOINTED TO CARRY A CARCASS UP AND DOWN?
👀 TO SUFFER CHANGE CAN BE NO HURT, AS NO BENEFIT IT IS, BY CHANGE TO ATTAIN TO BEING. THE AGE AND TIME OF THE WORLD IS AS IT WERE A FLOOD AND SWIFT CURRENT, CONSISTING OF THE THINGS THAT ARE BROUGHT TO PASS IN THE WORLD. FOR AS SOON AS ANYTHING HATH APPEARED, AND IS PASSED AWAY, ANOTHER SUCCEEDS, AND THAT ALSO WILL PRESENTLY OUT OF SIGHT.
👀 WHATSOEVER DOTH HAPPEN IN THE WORLD, IS, IN THE COURSE OF SUMMER. AS USUAL AND ORDINARY AS A ROSE IN THE SPRING, AND FRUIT IN SUMMER. OF THE SAME NATURE IS SICKNESS AND DEATH, SLANDER, AND LYGING IN WAIT, AND WHATSOEVER ELSE ORDINARILY DOTH UNTO FOOLS USE TO BE OCCASION EITHER OF JOY OR SORROW. THAT,WHATSOEVER IT IS, THAT COMES AFTER, DOTH ALWAYS VERY NATURALLY, AND AS IT WERE FAMILIARITY, FOLLOW UPON THAT WHICH WAS BEFORE. FOR THOU MUST CONSIDER THE THINGS OF THE WORLD., NOT AS A LOOSE INDEPENDENT NUMBER, CONSISTING MERELY OF NECESSARY EVENTS, BUT AS A DISCREET CONNECTION OF THINGS ORDERLY AND HARMONIOUSLY DISPOSED. THERE IS THEN TO BE SEEN IN THE THINGS OF THE WORLD, NOT A BARE SUCCESSION, BUT AN ADMIRABLE CORRESPONDENCE AND AFFINITY.
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👀 EVEN AS IF ANY OF THE GODS SHOULD TELL THEE, THOU SALT CERTAINLY DIE TOMORROW, OR NEXT DAY THOU WOULDST NOT, EXCEPT THOU BE EXTREMELY BASE AND PUSILLANIMOUS, TAKE IT FOR A GREAT BENEFIT, RATHER TO DIE THE NEXT DAY AFTER, THAN TOMORROW, (FOR ALAS, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE) SO, FOR THE SAME REASON, THINK IT NO GREAT MATTER TO DIE RATHER MANY YEARS AFTER, THAN THE VERY NEXT DAY.
👀THOU MUST BE LIKE A PROMOTORY OF THE SEA, AGAINST WHICH THOUGH THE WAVES BEAT CONTINUALLY, YET IT BOTH ITSELF STANDS, AND ABOUT IT ARE THOSE SWELLING WAVES STILLED AND QUIETED.
👀 THOU MUST COMFORT THYSELF IN THE EXPECTATION OF THY NATURAL DISSOLUTION, AND IN THE MEANTIME NOT GRIEVE AT THE DELAY, BUT REST CONTENTED IN THOSE TWO THINGS. FIRST, THAT NOTHING SHALL HAPPEN UNTO THEE, WHICH IS NOT ACCORDING TO THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE. SECONDLY, THAT IT IS IN THY POWER, TO DO NOTHING AGAINST THINE OWN PROPER GOD, AND INWARD SPIRIT. FOR IT IS NOT IN ANY MAN'S POWER TO CONSTRAIN THEE TO TRANSGRESS AGAINST HIM.
* WHAT IS THE USE THAT NOW AT THIS PRESENT I MAKE OF MY SOUL? THUS FROM TIME TO TIME AND UPON ALL OCCASIONS THOU MUST PUT THIS QUESTION TO THYSELF, WHAT IS NOW THAT PART OF MIND WHICH THEY CALL THE RATIONAL MISTRESS PART, EMPLOYED ABOUT? WHOSE SOULD DO I NOW PROPERLY POSSESS? A CHILD'S? OR A YOUTH'S ? A WOMEN'S ? OR A TYRANT'S ? SOME BRUTE, OR SOME WILD BEAST'S SOUL?
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* ALL THAT I CONSISTS OF, IS EITHER FORM OR MATTER. NO CORRUPTION CAN REDUCE EITHER OF THESE UNTO NOTHING, EVERY PART OF MINE THEN WILL BY MUTATION BE DISPOSED INTO A CERTAIN PART OF THE WHOLE WORLD, AND THAT IN TIME INTO ANOTHER PART, AND SO IN INFINITUM, BY WHICH KIND OF MUTATION, I ALSO BECAME WHAT I AM, AND SO DID THEY THAT BEGOT ME, AND THEY BEFORE THEM, AND SO UPWARDS IN INFINITUM. FOR SO WE MAY BE ALLOWED TO SPEAK, THOUGH THE AGE AND GOVERNEMENT OF THE WORLD, BE TO SOME CERTAIN PERIODS OF TIME LIMITED, AND CONFINED.
