LAW OF SOCIETY.

Necessity of social life.

— 2. Life of isolation. Vow of silence. — 3. Family bonds.

Necessity of social life.

Is social life part of Nature?

“Certainly. God made man to live in society. He did not give him speech and all the other faculties necessary to the life of relationship in vain.”

Is absolute isolation contrary to the law of Nature?

“Without a doubt, for by instinct men seek out society, and all must contribute to progress by helping one another.”

In seeking society, does man do anything more than obey a personal sentiment, or is there in this sentiment some providential purpose of a more general order?

“Man must progress. Isolated, this is not possible for him, since he does not possess all the faculties. He lacks contact with other men.

In isolation, he becomes brutish and withers away.”

No man possesses complete faculties. It is through social union that they complete one another, so as to ensure his well-being and progress. That is why, needing one another, men were made to live in society and not in isolation. Life of isolation. Vow of silence.

It is understood that, as a general principle, social life is part of Nature. But since all tastes are also part of Nature, why should that of absolute isolation be condemnable, provided it gives man satisfaction?

“An egotistical satisfaction. There are also men who find satisfaction in drunkenness. Does that deserve your approval?

A life by which man condemns himself to being useful to no one cannot please God.”

What is to be thought of those who live in absolute seclusion, fleeing the pernicious contact of the world?

“A twofold egotism.”

a — But would not this withdrawal be meritorious if its aim were an expiation, the one who seeks it imposing upon himself a painful privation?

“To do a greater sum of good than of evil constitutes the best expiation.

In avoiding one evil, the one who isolates himself for such a reason falls into another, for he forgets the law of love and of charity.”

What is to be thought of those who flee the world to devote themselves to the task of aiding the unfortunate?

“These elevate themselves by lowering themselves.

They have the twofold merit of placing themselves above material enjoyments and of doing good, obeying the law of labor.” a — And of those who seek in retreat the tranquility that certain works require?

“That is not the absolute withdrawal of the egotist. These do not isolate themselves from society, since they work for it.”

What is to be thought of the vow of silence prescribed by some sects since the most remote antiquity?

“Ask yourselves, rather, whether speech is a natural faculty and why God granted it to man.

God condemns the abuse and not the use of the faculties he has bestowed upon him.

Silence, however, is useful, for in silence you put recollection into practice; your spirit becomes freer and can enter into communication with us.

But the vow of silence is a folly. No doubt those who consider these privations as acts of virtue obey a good intention. They are mistaken, nonetheless, because they do not sufficiently understand the true laws of God.”

The vow of absolute silence, like the vow of isolation, deprives man of the social relationships that can afford him occasions to do good and to fulfill the law of progress. Family bonds.

Why is it that, among animals, parents and offspring cease to recognize one another once the latter no longer need care?

“Animals live a material life and not a moral life. The tenderness of the mother for her offspring has for its principle the instinct of preservation of the beings to which she gave birth. As soon as these beings can take care of themselves, her task is concluded; Nature requires nothing more of her. That is why she abandons them, in order to occupy herself with the newcomers.”

There are persons who, from the fact that animals abandon their young after a certain time, conclude that family bonds among men are no more than the result of social customs and not the effect of a law of Nature. What are we to think in this regard?

“Man’s destiny is different from that of the animals. Why, then, should one wish to identify him with them? There is in man something more, beyond physical needs: there is the need to progress.

Social bonds are necessary to progress, and family bonds make the former closer. This is why the latter constitute a law of Nature. God willed that, in this way, men should learn to love one another as brothers.”

What would be, for society, the result of the loosening of family bonds?

“A resurgence of egotism.”