The quiet world outside their rays receded far away and ceased to be.

Now, quite suddenly, he relaxed, and it was as if the physical world had receded.

It was as if both their worlds had receded and they themselves were all that was left.

When the ideal world recedes before the senses, we are on a retrograde march.

But as they get comfortable, the hurly-burly outside world recedes.

The world receded, leaving only the crystal, and Brother Joseph's voice.

The world receded until only his hand was in focus then that too became dark, and blackness engulfed him.

But it was not this slow wondering that made the solid world recede from her.

He was diminishing, or the world was receding from him.