Carlyle expresses this attitude when he makes Teufeldroeckh say: “I live in a continual, indefinite, pining fear; tremulous, pusillanimous, apprehensive of I know not what: it seems as if things, all things in the heavens above and the earth beneath would hurt me; as if the heavens and the earth were but boundless jaws of a devouring monster, wherein I, palpitating, lie waiting to be devoured.” In this state of agony of fear, the individual looks for salvation in fleeing from the terrors of the world to the arms of the divinity. In his terror the individual passes through a second stage, he becomes “converted,” he turns with prayers to the divine power to which he looks for shelter from the dangers of life. He appeals to the divinity for protection from the evils of the day and from the terrors of the night. This second stage is often preceded by a period of subconscious incubation which sometimes gives rise to sudden conscious explosions, conscious conversions, or sudden onset of mystic state of ecstasy. In the library of Ashburbanipal, king of Assyria, there are found “penitential psalms” much alike to our own, but some millenniums older than the Biblical psalms. These Assyro-Babylonian penitential psalms, inscribed in cuneiform script on clay tablets, clearly express the attitude of the worshipper or suppliant: “O Goddess, in the anguish of my heart have I raised cries of anguish to thee; declare forgiveness. May thy heart be at rest. May thy liver be pacified. The sin which I have committed I know not. The Lord in the anger of his heart hath looked upon me. The goddess hath become angry and hath stricken me grievously. I sought for help, but no one taketh my hand. I wept, but no one cometh to my side. I utter cries, but no one harkens to me. I am afflicted, I am overcome. Unto my merciful god I turn. I kiss the feet of my goddess. How long, known and unknown god, until the anger of thy heart be pacified? How long, known and unknown goddess, until thy unfriendly heart be pacified? Mankind is perverted, and has no judgment, Of all men who are alive, who knows anything? They do not know whether they do good or evil. O Lord, do not cast aside thy servant! He is cast into the mire; take his hand. The sin which I have sinned turn to mercy! Known and unknown goddess, my sins are seven times seven; Forgive my sins! Forgive my sins, and I will humble myself before thee. May thy heart, as the heart of a mother who hath borne children, be glad! As a father who hath begotten them, may it be glad!”