IV
But this passive good will is not enough. It is not enough not to harm things. Marcus Aurelius, I believe, has said; “One is often as unjust in doing nothing as in doing what one does.” You must understand, therefore, that not to share your inner fortune is, in some sort, to rob those who surround you.
We must first declare our blessings: we must try to do this without shame and without arrogance. Those who enjoy an intense and efficacious inner life draw from it a great deal of pride; they would gladly communicate it if they did not know that these treasures seem ridiculous to the common men; it is really shame, therefore, that prevents them from being proud.
In spite of the cry of Hamlet, it is through words that one discovers and possesses the world.
The rhetoricians have done their work so well that at times words seem dry, empty of pulp, empty of juice. They are no longer nourishing food, they are discordant sounds.
It needs only a little confidence and generosity to restore their meaning and their weight. Then they become precious and faithful. We call them, like devoted persons, to our aid; they come at once out of the shadow and show themselves docile to our wishes.
Marcus Aurelius, of whom we have just spoken, has said this also: “I wish always to define or describe the object that presents itself to my thoughts, so as to see, distinctly and in its nakedness, what it is in its substance, considered as a whole, and separately in all its parts, so as to be able to tell myself its true name as well as the true names of the parts of which it is composed and into which it can be resolved. For nothing is so suited to elevate the soul as to analyze as much as possible, with method and justice, everything that one meets with in life, and always to examine each object so as to be able to recognize at once to what order of things it belongs, of what, use it is, and what is its importance in the universe and, relatively, to man.”
It is with words that this task is accomplished.
I have noted another beautiful expression on this subject; it is from M. Anatole France. “Words,” he says, “are ideas.... I think the highest race in the world is that which has the best syntax. It often happens that men cut each other’s throats over words they do not understand. If they understood each other they would embrace each other.”
Be very sure then that the words of which we make use are deserving of all our care, all our respect. They are the witnesses of our thoughts. They will betray us if we degrade them to base uses.
Choose them with great tenderness; that is a quality as enviable as precision. And by means of these choice words, loyally express your fortune.
Tell what you have discovered, what you know. In affirming your possession you render it sure, positive. You labor for others and for yourself. You give form to your treasure and yield it, as if perfected, to those who truly wish to avail themselves of it.