I am a spectator, so to speak, of the molecular whirlwind which men call individual life; I am conscious of an incessant metamorphosis, an irresistible movement of existence, which is going on within me -- and this phenomenology of myself serves as a window opened upon the mystery of the world.

Amiel's Journal: The Journal Intime of Henri-Frédéric Amiel; Tr., with an Introduction and Notes (ed. 1893)