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Now and again I am compelled to stand aside and gaze at my fellows in awe and wonder, for their one aim seems to be the very reverse of "Excelsior!" With them it is ever downward--deeper and deeper into matter, mammon, and neurasthenia. Verily this is the Gethsemane of the Christ-self within them--that immortal spirit seeking to free them from the thick folds of illusion in which they have been entangled. I know that this is so, for I too have sinned with them, and gone down into the dark depths, and become entangled in those tempting folds; but never could I still the hunger of the heart to fulfil the most sacred and primal purpose of life.

-- Notebooks Category 12: Reflections > Chapter 4 : Reflections On Truth > # 124