from the "cycle of avecennan recitals" happy thanksgivng n such.

To begin with, it must be understood that as long as the philosophical
situation is experienced as confronting things that are separate from the soul in
the manner of objects and that, independently of the soul, form "currents" in
the manner of a river, the dilemma can arise: either to throw oneself into the
current or to struggle against it. Neither of these decisions testifies to a genuine
philosophical formation, any more than they contribute to it. It is not a question
of struggling against a dying past, nor of accepting a past that is dead. Life and
death are attributes of the soul, not of present or past things. The question is,
rather, to understand what once made this past possible, caused its advent, was its
future. To reapprehend this "possible" is to apprehend whether this past still
has a future or not; here, precisely, one must not yield to the illusion that the
decision is imposed by things. The decision of the future falls to the soul, de-
pends upon how the soul understands itself, upon its refusal or acceptance of a
new birth.