I saw a man rush out into the night, shaking his fist at heaven and
earth; a madman who refused to play his part in the farce any more, and
so rushed down towards the river.
But I myself sat there still.
And I saw another, a puny creature, let loose; a humble, ashen-grey
ascetic, that bent his head and bowed under the lash, and said: "Thy
will be done. The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away--" A pitiful being
this, that stole out into the night and disappeared.
But I myself sat there still.
I sat alone on the promontory of existence, with the sun and the stars
gone out, and ice-cold emptiness above me, about me, and in me, on every
side.
But then, my friend, by degrees it dawned on me that there was still
something left. There was one little indomitable spark in me, that began
to glow all by itself--it was as if I were lifted back to the first day
of existence, and an eternal will rose up in me, and said: Let there be
light!
This will it was that by and by grew and grew in me, and made me strong.
I began to feel an unspeakable compassion for all men upon earth, and
yet in the last resort I was proud that I was one of them.
I understood how blind fate can strip and plunder us of all, and yet
something will remain in us at the last, that nothing in heaven or
earth can vanquish. Our bodies are doomed to die, and our spirit to
be extinguished, yet still we bear within us the spark, the germ of an
eternity of harmony and light both for the world and for God.
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