Devote yourself to art, which gives life, peace, and joy."
It is true I retained the young man's words, but I could not understand
them, for I regarded philosophy as a necessary part of the life of
mankind, and could not grasp the notion that one could be verging
towards darkness and doubt when one calmly investigated the inner life.
Art, on the other hand, lay much further from me than philosophy; for
except a profound enjoyment in works of art (for which I could give no
clear reason), no glimmering of an active aesthetic sense had yet dawned
upon me. This remark of my friend the doctor's called my attention to
myself, however, and to my life and its aim, and made me aware of two
very different and widely separate systems of life.
My friend, the tutor of the Government official under whom I had served
at Bamberg, had in the meantime left his situation. He told me before
leaving that he had it in his mind to go to Frankfurt, and thence into
France. I saw his departure with regret, little dreaming that life would
in a few years bring us together again, and that he would indirectly
decide my future career. But, as it so often happens in life, parting in
this instance but led up to meeting, and meeting to parting.
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