t, which frighten me in my
every-day existence,--me, a man kept to the business of living from the
hour I awake to the light until the hour I go to sleep; and according to
the answer I may give myself on this point, is the spirit in which I dig
in my little garden.

Personally I have taken sides, after reflection; after experience also,
I do profess with conviction that humanity has a destiny and that we
live for something. What is to be understood exactly by this word
humanity? In short, I know not, only that this, of which I know nothing,
does not exist yet, but it is on the road to existence, on the road to
make itself known; and that it concerns me who am here. What must be
understood by this word destiny? I do not know much more; I have only,
so far, dreams about it, dreams born of some profound but incommunicable
love, which an equal love only could understand; my conscience is not
pure enough to conceive a stronger conviction; I only affirm that this
destiny of humanity, if it were known, would be such that all men,
ignorant or simple, could participate in it. It is already something to
know that, in short, I see at least by lightning-flashes, from which
side the future will shine; and I walk towards it, and live thus,
climbing up in a steep dark forest towards a point where a light is
divined, a light that cannot deceive me, but which the obtruding
branches of a complicated and apparent life hide from me. That which
will bring me nearer it is not arguing about the probable nature of the
light, but walking; I mean, fortifying in myself and others a will for
the Good....

We have on one side undecided and lukewarm allies, on the other
adversaries; and we are forced necessarily to combat. This necessity
will become clearer each day; ... it is the "antagonism of negatives and
positives--of those who tend to destroy and those who tend to
reconstruct."... There is no question here, be it understood, of knowing
whether we are deceiving ourselves in choosing such or such a particular
duty; that I would concede without trouble, having always estimated that
our moral judgments, like our acts, have need of ceaseless revision and
amelioration, according to an endless progression. There is a question
of much more; of knowing in an absolute manner whether there be a duty
for us or not.... Good is in fact that which ought to be. Like Christ,
who according to St. Paul is not a Yes and a No, but a Yes, duty is a
Yes; to slip i