is world the only narrow, grudging, obscure and sorrowful moment of
our destiny.

XX

THE ONLY SORROW THAT CAN TOUCH
OUR MIND

We have said that the one sorrow of the mind is the sorrow of
not knowing or not understanding, which contains the sorrow of
powerlessness; for he who knows the supreme causes, being no longer
paralyzed by matter, becomes one with them and acts with them; and he
who understands ends by approving, or else the universe would be a
mistake, which is not possible. I do not believe that another sorrow
of the sheer mind can be imagined. The only one which, before
reflection, might seem admissible and which, in any case, could be
but ephemeral would arise from the sight of the pain and misery that
remain on the earth which we have left. But this sorrow, after all,
would be but one side and an insignificant phase of the sorrow of
powerlessness and of not understanding. As for the latter, though it
is not only beyond the domain of our intelligence, but even at an
insuperable distance from our imagination, we may say that it would be
intolerable only if it were without hope. But, in order to be without
hope, the universe would have to abandon any attempt to understand
itself, or admit within itself an object that remained for ever
foreign to it. Either the mind will not perceive its limits and,
consequently, will not suffer from them, or else it will overstep them
as it perceives them; for how could the universe have parts eternally
condemned to form no part of itself and of its knowledge? Hence we
cannot understand that the torture of not understanding, supposing it
to exist for a moment, should not end by mingling with the state of
infinity, which, if it be not happiness as we comprehend it, could be
naught but an indifference higher and purer than joy.

XXI

INFINITY AS CONCEIVED BY OUR
REASON

Let us turn our thoughts towards it. The problem extends beyond
humanity and embraces all things. It is possible, I think, to view
infinity under two distinct aspects and try to foresee our fate
therein. Let us contemplate the first of these aspects. We are plunged
into a universe that has no limits in space or time. It never began,
nor will it ever end. It could not have an aim, for, if it had one,
it would have attained it in the infinity of years that preceded
us. It is not making for anywhere, for it would have arrived there;
consequently, all that the worlds within its pale, a