hitting the spot
poem excerpt from pope; contrary to dualism ?
Look round our world; behold the chain of love.
Confirming all below and all above,
See plastic nature working to this end,
The single atoms each to other tend,
Attract, attracted to, the next in place
Form'd and impell'd its neighbor to embrace.
See matter next, with various life imbued
Press to one center still, the gen'ral good.
See dying vegetables life sustain,
See life dissolving vegetate again;
All forms that perish other forms supply,
(By turns we catch the vital breath and die)
Like bubbles on the sea of matter born,
They rise, they break, and to that sea return.
Nothing is foreign; parts relate to whole;
One all-extending all-preserving soul
Connects each being, greatest with the least;
Made beast in aid of man and man of beast;
All serv'd, all serving: nothing stands alone;
The chain holds on, and where it ends, unknown.
—Alexander Pope, An Essay on Man
(via "The Gripping Hand")
that excerpt fits pretty well, i think. that's all that was in the book; the final text. now i'm thinking i should probably read the whole poem. but i haven't been in that sort of reading mood/mode in a very long time.
ah well; time to finish my coffee and perform some (more) vegetation dissolving in the backyard.