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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Barlaam and Ioasaph by St. John of Damascus: doors, never going forth and seen of none?" His father replied,
"Because I will not, my son, that thou shouldest behold anything
to embitter thy heart or mar thy happiness. I intend that thou
shalt spend all thy days in luxury unbroken, and in all manner
joy and pleasaunce." "But," said the son unto his father, "know
well, Sir, that thus I live not in joy and pleasaunce, but rather
in affliction and great straits, so that my very meat and drink
seem distasteful unto me and bitter. I yearn to see all that
lieth without these gates. If then thou wouldest not have me
live in anguish of mind, bid me go abroad as I desire, and let me
rejoice my soul with sights hitherto unseen by mine eyes."
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