From The Disciples of Sais by Novalis (translated by Michael Hamburger, found in Jonathan Cott’s introduction to his book Stockhausen).  Paragraph breaks mine.

 

He watched the stars and imitated their courses and positions in the sand.  Into the ocean of the air he gazed incessantly; and never tired of observing its clearness, it movements, its clouds, its illumination.  He collected stones, flowers, beetles of every kind and arranged them in various patterns in front of him.  To men and animals he gave his attention, on the shores of the sea he sat and looked for shells.  To his own heart and thoughts he listened intently.  He did not know where his longing would lead him.

When he had grown up, he wandered about, viewed other countries, other seas, other atmospheres, stones that were strange to him, unknown plants, animals, men; descended into caves, saw how the earth has been built up in shelves and many coloured layers, and familiar patterns everywhere, only weirdly mingled and combined, and in this way often the strangest objects fell into order in his mind.

Soon he looked for analogies in all things, conjectures, correspondences; till he could no longer see anything in isolation.  All perceptions of his sense crowded thought at the same moment.  He loved to bring strangers together.  Now stars were men to him, no men were stars, stones were animals, clouds were plants,; he played with the powers and phenomena, he knew just where and how to find this shape and the other, to make them appear; and thus he himself drew tones and passages from the strings.