The Best Works of Balzac - Оноре де Бальзак

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color, smell, and shape—have the same origin, for the day is not

       far off when the relationship of the phenomena of air and light

       will be made clear.

       Thought, which is allied to Light, is expressed in words which

       depend on sound. To man, then, everything is derived from the

       Substance, whose transformations vary only through Number—a

       certain quantitative dissimilarity, the proportions resulting in

       the individuals or objects of what are classed as Kingdoms.

       VIII

      When the Substance is absorbed in sufficient number (or quantity)

       it makes of man an immensely powerful mechanism, in direct

       communication with the very element of the Substance, and acting

       on organic nature in the same way as a large stream when it

       absorbs the smaller brooks. Volition sets this force in motion

       independently of the Mind. By its concentration it acquires some

       of the qualities of the Substance, such as the swiftness of light,

       the penetrating power of electricity, and the faculty of

       saturating a body; to which must be added that it apprehends what

       it can do.

       Still, there is in man a primordial and overruling phenomenon

       which defies analysis. Man may be dissected completely; the

       elements of Will and Mind may perhaps be found; but there still

       will remain beyond apprehension the x against which I once used to struggle. That x is the Word, the Logos, whose communication burns and consumes those who are not prepared to receive it. The Word is for ever generating the Substance.

       IX

      Rage, like all our vehement demonstrations, is a current of the

       human force that acts electrically; its turmoil when liberated

       acts on persons who are present even though they be neither its

       cause nor its object. Are there not certain men who by a discharge

       of Volition can sublimate the essence of the feelings of the

       masses?

       X

      Fanaticism and all emotions are living forces. These forces in

       some beings become rivers that gather in and sweep away

       everything.

       XI

      Though Space is, certain faculties have the power of traversing it with such rapidity that it is as though it existed not. From your own bed to the frontiers of the universe there are but two steps: Will and Faith.

       XII

      Facts are nothing; they do not subsist; all that lives of us is

       the Idea.

       XIII

      The realm of Ideas is divided into three spheres: that of

       Instinct, that of Abstractions, that of Specialism.

       XIV

      The greater part, the weaker part of visible humanity, dwells in

       the Sphere of Instinct. The Instinctives are born, labor, and die without rising to the second degree of human intelligence, namely Abstraction.

       XV

      Society begins in the sphere of Abstraction. If Abstraction, as

       compared with Instinct, is an almost divine power, it is

       nevertheless incredibly weak as compared with the gift of

       Specialism, which is the formula of God. Abstraction comprises all

       nature in a germ, more virtually than a seed contains the whole

       system of a plant and its fruits. From Abstraction are derived

       laws, arts, social ideas, and interests. It is the glory and the

       scourge of the earth: its glory because it has created social

       life; its scourge because it allows man to evade entering into

       Specialism, which is one of the paths to the Infinite. Man

       measures everything by Abstractions: Good and Evil, Virtue and

       Crime. Its formula of equity is a pair of scales, its justice is

       blind. God's justice sees: there is all the difference.

       There must be intermediate Beings, then, dividing the sphere of

       Instinct from the sphere of Abstractions, in whom the two elements

       mingle in an infinite variety of proportions. Some have more of

       one, some more of the other. And there are also some in which the

       two powers neutralize each other by equality of effect.

       XVI

      Specialism consists in seeing the things of the material universe

       and the things of the spiritual universe in all their

       ramifications original and causative. The greatest human geniuses

       are those who started from the darkness of Abstraction to attain

       to the light of Specialism. (Specialism, species, sight; speculation, or seeing everything, and all at once; Speculum, a mirror or means of apprehending a thing by seeing the whole of it.) Jesus had the gift of Specialism; He saw each fact in its root and in its results, in the past where it had its rise, and in the future where it would grow and spread; His sight pierced into the understanding of others. The perfection of the inner eye gives rise to the gift of Specialism. Specialism brings with it Intuition. Intuition is one of the faculties of the Inner Man, of which Specialism is an attribute. Intuition acts by an imperceptible sensation of which he who obeys it is not conscious: for instance, Napoleon instinctively moving from a spot struck immediately afterwards by a cannon ball.

       XVII

      Between the sphere of Abstraction and that of Specialism, as

       between those of Abstraction and Instinct, there are beings in

       whom the attributes of both combine and produce a mixture; these

       are men of genius.

       XVIII

      Specialism is necessarily the most perfect expression of man, and

       he is the link binding the visible world to the higher worlds; he

       acts, sees, and feels by his inner powers. The man of Abstraction

       thinks. The man of Instinct acts.

       XIX

      Hence man has three degrees. That of Instinct, below the average;

       that of Abstraction, the general average; that of Specialism,

       above the average. Specialism opens to man his true career; the

       Infinite dawns on him; he sees what his destiny must be.

       XX

      There are three worlds—the Natural, the Spiritual, and the

       Divine. Humanity passes through the Natural world, which is not

       fixed either in its essence and unfixed in its faculties. The

       Spiritual world is fixed in its essence and unfixed in its

      

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