Inwardness Equals Certitude and Peace
Man
is subject to two poles of attraction, that of the outward world and
that of the inward center.Drawn towards the outward, he is plunged
in concupiscence and anxiety; drawn towards the inward, he finds certitude
and peace.
For man,
outwardness is a right, and inwardness a duty.We have the right to
outwardness in the measure that we are men, or because we are men;
and we must realize inwardness--hence live towards the inward--because
our spiritual substance is not of this world; neither, in consequence,
is our destiny.
The outward is the dimension of accidents; the inward, that of substance.Or
to put it differently:the outward is the dimension of forms; the inward,
that of the essence.
When man has achieved a balance between the inward and the outward,
the outward is no longer equated with concupiscence and anxiety; it
is in a certain way interiorized, its contents are transparent.This
is to see the substance in the accidents, or the essence in the forms.
When we withdraw into the inward, the inward by compensation will
manifest itself to us in the outward.Nobleness of soul is to have
a sense of the archetypes.
When we withdraw into the inward, we will discover there all the beauties
perceived in the outward; not as forms, but in their quintessential
reality.This means that in turning to God, man can lose nothing.