The Life of the Bee 



no other purpose save that of amusing the 

 darkness. So, too, is it possible that 

 some stupendous incident may suddenly 

 surge from without, from another world, 

 from a new phenomenon, and either in- 

 form this effort with definitive meaning, or 

 definitively destroy it. But we must pro- 

 ceed on our way as though nothing abnor- 

 mal could ever befall us. Did we know 

 that to-morrow some revelation, a mes- 

 sage, for instance, from a more ancient, 

 more luminous planet than ours, were to 

 root up our nature, to suppress the laws, 

 the passions, and radical truths of our being, 

 our wisest plan still would be to devote 

 the whole of to-day to the study of these 

 passions, these laws, and these truths, 

 which must blend and accord in our 

 mind; and to remain faithful to the des- 

 tiny imposed on us, which is to subdue, 

 and to some extent raise within and 

 around us the obscure forces of life. 

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