An intensely uneasy, slightly
melancholy yet exhilarating feeling that
sometimes arises when one deeply ponders the
nature of being.
Late last night in his study, while sitting in a leather
chair and staring off into the distance, Jacob thought of his
birth; then he imagined the great
tree of births of every one of his ancestors, then that of all of humanity, then that of all animals, then that of all matter;
soon enough, he was intensely trying to visualize the Universe at its earliest state and, with irritation, could not do so at all; while reflecting on the mystery of that state, and the states preceding it, he experienced dènost and sighed deeply and slowly.