الحياةُ رحلةُ تجريبٍ يخوضها المرء رغمًا عنه. هي رحلةُ الروح عبر العالم المادي، ولأنّ الروحَ هي المسافرة، فهي التي تُختبَر. ولهذا توجد نفوسٌ تأمّلية عاشت أكثر كثافةً واتساعًا واضطرابًا ممّن عاشوا حياتهم بظاهرها وحده. المهمّ هو المحصّلة النهائية؛ فما شعر به المرء هو ما عاشه. يأوي المرء إلى فراشه منهكًا من الحلم كما ينهك من العمل اليدوي الشاقّ. ولا يعيش المرء بمثل هذه الكثافة كما يعيشها حين يُفكّر بعمق.

“Life is an experimental journey undertaken involuntarily. It is a journey of the spirit through the material world and, since it is the spirit that travels, it is the spirit that is experienced. That is why there exist contemplative souls who have lived more intensely, more widely, more tumultuously than others who have lived their lives purely externally. The end result is what matters. What one felt was what one experienced. One retires to bed as wearily from having dreamed as from having done hard physical labor. One never lives so intensely as when one has been thinking hard.”Fernando Pessoa