Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adore
William BlakeRead
How do you know but ev’ry Bird that cuts the airy way, Is an immense world of delight, clos’d by your senses five?
Interpretation
The quote suggests that our perception limits our experience of the beauty and wonder in the world around us.
William Blake's quote invites reflection on the nature of reality and perception, implying that our senses may restrict our understanding and appreciation of the universe. It challenges us to consider that every aspect of life, symbolized by the birds, carries a wealth of joy and beauty that may remain unnoticed due to our limited sensory engagement.
In practice
During a nature walk, someone could use this quote to inspire others to pay closer attention to their surroundings.
Thou art a man God is no more Thy own humanity Learn to adore
In seed time learn, in harvest teach, in winter enjoy.
O thou who passest through our valleys in Thy strength, curb thy fierce steeds, allay the heat That flames from their large nostrils! Thou, O Summer, Oft pitchest here thy golden tent, and oft Beneath our oaks hast slept, while we beheld With joy thy ruddy limbs and flourishing hair.
Every Night and every Morn Some to Misery are born. Every Morn and every Night Some are born to Sweet Delight, Some are born to Endless Night.
As the caterpillar chooses the fairest leaves to lay her eggs on, so the priest lays his curse on the fairest joys.
He who would do good to another must do it in minute particulars.
Simple assent to the gospel, divorced from a transforming commitment to the living Christ, is by Biblical standards less than faith, and less than saving, and to elicit only assent of this kind would be to secure only false conversions.
We are travelers on a cosmic journey,stardust,swirling and dancing in the eddies and whirlpools of infinity. Life is eternal. We have stopped for a moment to encounter each other, to meet, to love, to share.This is a precious moment. It is a little parenthesis in eternity.
Man adapts himself to everything, to the best and the worst.
Poverty is clearly one source of emotional suffering, but there are others, like loneliness. A policy to reduce the loneliness of the elderly would certainly reduce suffering.
Like you're riding a train at night across some vast plain, and you catch a glimpse of a tiny light in a window of a farmhouse. In an instant it's sucked back into the darkness behind and vanishes. But if you close your eyes, that point of light stays with you, just barely for a few moments.
There are thoughts which are prayers. There are moments when, whatever the posture of the body, the soul is on its knees.
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