11

The future appears to us as a landscape, an environment, a world
Upon which we gaze from some vantage

Seeing perhaps more, perhaps less

To me, when I consider it, it always appears spacious
If somewhat indefinite

To me it always appears spacious
Which I count an advantage

This vision is a product of the mind
Including the vantage point
And, indeed, the mind, in the body
Upon it

Thus, it is suggested that a person can cause the mind
To ascend to higher vantage points
To see more spacious futures ...
Another aside

10

We contemplate the possibility of influence. There are certain associations ... Again, things seem to be a certain way. Way. Path. Path to influence.

9

8

We stand, surveying the world. Our only options seems to be experiment. Reason provides only hints of support for influence. Yet, contemplating influence seems to produce a distinct effect. When we contemplate its inexplicability, we feel oppressed. When we contemplate the possibility of it, we feel uplifted ... happiness.

7

That influence is associated with happiness would be a function of the nature of existence. Reason, logic, might support the notion that influence is the genesis of existence. This takes us into an unexpected direction, in the argument.

6

Questioning the reality of influence appears to fill us with misery. Appears to? The emergence of misery from the question appears to be intangible. Even its intangibility is intangible. It is more a matter of sequence and logic, than tangibility, or direct perception. We go to the question, and feel miserable. It is reasonable that that should be so - though, why happiness is associated with influence is, in its turn, not readily explicable. It is more a definition of what we are, than what we are is an explanation of it. We turn from the apparent source of the unpleasant sensation ...

5

We stand, surveying what there is to survey, wondering whether there is such a thing as influence. Absent any answer, even after the deepest possible consideration (the most extended consideration), we turn to the test of effects. The question fills us with misery, apparently. Misery seems to us to be a mechanism for making decisions.