Meditation here may think down hours to moments. Here the heart may give a useful lesson to the head and learning wiser grow without his books.
Interpretation
Meditation allows for deep reflection, transforming long periods into impactful moments, teaching us valuable lessons beyond traditional learning.
In this quote, William Cowper emphasizes the power of meditation in compressing time and enhancing our understanding. He suggests that through meditative practice, we can derive wisdom and insights that transcend the limitations of formal education, enabling us to learn profoundly from our inner experiences and emotions.
In practice
During a mindfulness retreat, the instructor quoted Cowper to encourage participants to reflect on their experiences.
Knowledge, a rude unprofitable mass, the mere materials with which wisdom builds, till smoothed and squared and fitted to its place, does but encumber whom it seems to enrich. Knowledge is proud that he has learned so much; wisdom is humble that he knows no more.
This cabin, Mary, in my sight appears,_x000D_ _x000D_ Built as it has been in our waning years,_x000D_ _x000D_ A rest afforded to our weary feet,_x000D_ _x000D_ Preliminary to - the last retreat.
Strength may wield the ponderous spade, May turn the clod, and wheel the compost home; But elegance, chief grace the garden shows, And most attractive, is the fair result Of thought, the creature of a polished mind.
No wisdom that she may gain by experience and reflection hereafter, will compensate the loss of her present hilarity.
Even in the stifling bosom of the town,_x000D_ _x000D_ A garden, in which nothing thrives, has charms_x000D_ _x000D_ That soothes the rich possessor; much consol'd,_x000D_ _x000D_ That here and there some sprigs of mournful mint,_x000D_ _x000D_ Or nightshade, or valerian, grace the well_x000D_ _x000D_ He cultivates.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast, Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa around, And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn Throws up a steamy column, and the cups That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each, So let us welcome peaceful evening in
It's always the idle habits you acquire which you will regret. Father said that. That Christ was not crucified: he was worn away by a minute clicking of little wheels. That had no sister.
One can't fight with oneself, for this battle has only one loser.
Maybe the fear is that we are less than we think we are, when the actuality of it is that we are much much more.
When I speak of a man growing in grace, I mean simply this - that his sense of sin is becoming deeper, his faith stronger, his hope brighter, his love more extensive, his spiritual mindedness more marked.
Has joy any survival value in the operations of evolution? I suspect that it does; I suspect that the morose and fearful are doomed to quick extinction. Where there is no joy there can be no courage; and without courage all other virtues are useless.
I'd rather see a sermon than hear one any day; I'd rather one should walk with me than merely tell the way.
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