That which was is no more; what will be, is not yet.

Do not seek elsewhere the cause of our malady.
Here is a man whose house falls in ruins; he has torn it down in order to build another.

The rubbish encumbers the spot, and he waits for new materials for his new home.

At the moment he has prepared to cut the stone and mix the cement, while standing pick in hand with sleeves rolled up, he is informed that there is no more stone, and is advised to whiten the old material and make the best possible use of that.

What can you expect this man to do who is unwilling to build his nest out of ruins?
The quarry is deep, the tools too weak to hew out the stones.
"Wait!" they say to him, "we will draw out the stones one by one; hope, work, advance, withdraw." What do they not tell him?
And in the mean time he has lost his old house, and has not yet built the new; he does not know where to protect himself from the rain, or how to prepare his evening meal, nor where to work, nor where to sleep, nor where to die; and his children are newly born.
I am much deceived if we do not resemble that man.