A World Within

Yesterday we went fishing, but had a late start. We didn't catch any fish but I found a treasure. The outside of this glass bottle reads (Not a label, actually a part of the glass):

DR. ELLIS

SPECIAL
QUICK DRY
WAVING FLUID

WAVE SET

DR ELLIS SALES CO. INC.
DISTRIBUTORS
PITTSBURGH, PA
CONTENTS 6 FL. OZS

The coolest thing about the bottle, though, was the life within....

Emerson

A friend recommended that I read Emerson, specifically, the essay entitled "Self Reliance". Here's a paragraph from it...

Man is timid and apologetic; he is no longer upright; he dares not say 'I think,' 'I am,' but quotes some saint or sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence. Before a leaf-bud has burst, its whole life acts; in the full-blown flower there is no more; in the leafless root there is no less. Its nature is satisfied and it satisfies nature in all moments alike. But man postpones or remembers; he does not live in the present, but with reverted eye laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him, stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He cannot be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present, above time.

Isn't that great? Another line, that I've heard before, goes like this: Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speakwhat to-morrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradictevery thing you said to-day.

I wish I had some worthy thoughts to add to this, but it's enough, for now, to have read and enjoyed it. I hope you will take the time to look up the essay - if you can't make it to the library, check out Project Gutenberg, where they've digitized many classic literature works of the world.