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About this quote

What does it mean?
We are here to witness and think about the great display of the universe.
In plain terms
Our purpose is to watch and think about the big show of life.
What can you take from it?
Live with awareness and appreciation for the world around you.

Where it applies

  • seeking life purpose
  • mindfulness practice
  • nature appreciation

Putting it to work

  • daily reflection
  • nature walks
  • journaling

Questions to consider

  • What do you need to contemplate today?
  • How do you see the great spectacle?

Another view

Some argue life has active duties beyond just watching and thinking.

More from John Burroughs

  1. 'Science has fairly turned us out of our comfortable little anthropomorphic notion of things into the great out-of-doors of the universe. We must and will get …

    Permalink to quote #7
  2. 'Science kills credulity and superstition, but to the well-balanced mind it enhances the feeling of wonder, of veneration, and of kinship which we feel in the …

    Permalink to quote #9
  3. 'When I look up at the starry heavens at night and reflect upon what it is that I really see there, I am constrained to say, 'There is no God.' The mind stagge…

    Permalink to quote #6

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