"Wherefore I cordially admonish thee to ascend from this world unto God, that is, to penetrate quite through thyself, for to climb up unto God is to enter into thy self, and not only inwardly to visit thy dearest Soul, but also to pierce into the very centre thereof, to view and behold there thy Creator; which . . . thou mayest the better . . . gather and recollect the beams ofthy inward man from the distractions ofthis outward world, and revoke them from external actions, to participate with thy inward joys." — Robert Fludd
