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Fiery World - Book 1 (1933) - 464:
464. Torpor, as well as repugnance, must be overcome. Many fail to take notice of this pernicious fellow traveler. Yet one can clearly trace how not only some unknown causes but seemingly the most innocuous everyday objects intercept the current of the fiery energy. Not only repulsion but a certain kind of unnoticeable torpor arrests the tension of work. The most common object obscures, as it were, the receptivity of brain and heart. Sometimes the pattern of a fabric, the rhythm of a song, the flash of a knife, the tinkle of metal, or a multitude of similar fragmentary emotions throw us out of the usual trend of aspiration. Whence comes this torpor? When and where were these reverberations and flashes perhaps decisive factors in our existence? Let us not deny the cumulations of the past; this is one more evidence of past existences. One should regard these recollections very soberly, and even record them as an exercise in observation. But one should not be spiritually encumbered by these fragments of the past. One may also encounter objects which can give impetus to one's striving; one may rejoice at such companions of bygone paths, but even they must not engage our attention too long. Forward, forward, ever forward! Each moment of torpor is a loss of progressive motion. How often it has been said that motion is a shield against the hostile arrows! Thus, proceed fierily. Let your fire be a beacon for your companions. One should remember that one must give light through thought.
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