769- We can understand that as a general principle societal life is founded on the laws of nature. But since all tastes are also natural, why would a taste for absolute isolation be condemnable if someone finds satisfaction in it?
“Selfish satisfaction. There are also those who find satisfaction in drunkenness. Do you approve of that? God cannot consider as pleasing a life in which persons condemn themselves to being useless to everyone.”
770- What is to be thought of those who live in absolute seclusion in order to escape the pernicious contact of the world?
“Doubly selfish.”
– But if such seclusion has expiation as its purpose through the imposition of harsh privations, isn’t it meritorious?
“Doing mostly good rather than evil is the best expiation. Through such seclusion they avoid one evil only to fall into another since they neglect the law of love and charity.”
771- What should we think of those who renounce the world in order to devote themselves to the relief of the unfortunate?
“They evolve by putting others’ needs before their own. They have the double merit of placing themselves above material pleasures and of doing good by fulfilling the law of labor.”
– And those who withdraw to seek the tranquility required for certain kinds of labor?
“That is not the absolute withdrawal of the selfish individual. They do not isolate themselves from society, because they labor for it.”
772- What is to be thought of the vow of silence that has been prescribed by certain sects since remotest antiquity?
“You might as well ask whether speech is natural and why God has given it. God condemns the abuse rather than the use of divinely-granted faculties. Nevertheless, silence is useful at times because in silence you can compose yourself; your spirit becomes freer and can enter into communication with us. However, a vow of silence is foolishness. Undoubtedly, those who regard such privations as acts of virtue have good intentions, but they are mistaken by not sufficiently understanding the true laws of God.”
The vow of absolute silence, like the vow of isolation, deprives individuals of the societal relations that can furnish them with opportunities to do good and to fulfill the law of progress.
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